Hot News Item Of The Week

Chombo Caught With Pants Down On Tape by the Financial Gazette

ZimJournalists Arise Team, picks the Ignatius Chombo, story from the Financial Gazette as worthwhile mentioning. Although Chombo’s involvement in the ZUPCO corruption scandal is not new or breaking but the fresh evidence of Chombo on tape is something very interesting. It remains to see how the story will unfold.
The team would also like to give special mention to Zimbabwe Indepdent’s story by Dumisani Muleya on the exposure of Joyce Mujuru in ZISCOGATE

By Chris Muronzi
FRESH evidence implicating Local Government and Public Works Minister Ignatius Chombo in the bribes-for-buses scandal that has rocked the state-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) over the past year has surfaced amid reports that the Attorney General’s office and the police are looking into the possibility of prosecuting the senior politician.

The new sensational evidence is in the form of a taped telephone conversation between Chombo and businessman Jayesh Shah in which Chombo is heard apparently asking for a US$68 000 bribe from the businessman, who has been at the centre of the corruption saga at ZUPCO.
In the recording, a copy of which was lodged with the AG’s office and the police — which The Financial Gazette obtained this week — Chombo appears to demand US$1 000 for every bus supplied to ZUPCO. The bus company was to procure 68 buses — 49 conventional coaches and 19 minibuses — from Shah.
This recording opens yet another intriguing chapter in the scandals that have rocked ZUPCO over the past year, particularly with respect to deals between the company and Shah. A politically well connected businessman and regular donor to the ruling party, Shah has frequently courted controversy. He was once at the centre of a storm when he riled competitors by importing buses already painted in ZUPCO colours in an apparent flaunting of confidence that the tender would be tailor-made for his company.
Below is a verbatim reproduction of what is heard on the tape: (the gaps represent sections of the recording where what is said is inaudible or garbled):
Shah: “No, first time how much do you want to add on top? Just add it. Because I do not want . . . one thing is that last time I was squeezed on the . . . very well. So it went . . . So last time I tried to talk to you and you know . . .
Chombo: “Just one will . . .
Shah: “Sorry?”
Chombo: “One.”
Shah: “1 000? So I can put 1000 on this . . .
Chombo:“Yah.
Shah: “No, I will squeeze it from my pocket.
Chombo: “Okay, just one?
Shah: Yah
Chombo: “. . . me one and . . . and you know, because if we . . . we can get
Further in the conversation, Chombo is heard apparently saying: “so let us . . . We will . . . one per big bus, this . . . and one for the small bus” To which Shah says, “it is fair.”
Chombo concurs, saying “I think it’s fair, . . . I am not a greedy person” to which Shah says “I had kept two on the previous one but unfortunately . . . it got mixed up” after interjecting Chombo.
Chombo says; “Yah. I think . . . Let us in terms of . . . capacity . . . . we . . . . Need really to . . . .”
Shah: “Because, you know, what I really felt was like, I don’t know you are dealing with . . . . but the way he was talking, the way he was talking, you know . . . . “
Chombo: “No it is . . . .”
Shah: “ . . . . and he took off his money.”
Chombo: “ You are talking to . . . . and also benefited from them in any way . . . .”
Shah: “ you see, this is what I am saying, you need to now look at the two options that are here, Simon . . . . . and Shah, Simon . . . . buses, look at the measurement of it. I only did 55 but can you really point a finger at anybody . . . . clean clear, above board.”
In a later conversation Shah says “ but Minister anything, let us a clear . . . . The opportunity is we have known each other but the thing is opportunities were not there” while Chombo agrees saying “Oh, Yah.”
Later in the conversation Shah is heard saying, “now, opportunities are there. It is, we need to . . . .” to which Chombo says “ No, I think we are clear, on the 40, one on the 96, one and then if we can get an increase on the others that are coming”
In the same dialogue Shah says, “Yes, others that are coming, but I told them to prepare 60 buses”
Chombo says “yes, go ahead, I know, you were not going to . . . . Actually we don’t want only 150 buses, we want further 150 buses.”
It is not clear however if Chombo received the money and how much it was but ZUPCO went on to float a special tender which resulted in Gift Investments supplying 69 buses — 24 minibuses and 45 conventional buses.
Chombo was not available to comment yesterday.
The ZUPCO bribes-for-buses saga erupted two years ago after Shah fell out with former chairman at the parastatal’s board, Charles Nherera. The scandal led to the arrest, sensational trial and jailing of Nherera for three years after a Harare magistrate convicted him of corruption.
Former ZUPCO chief executive, who is now deputy Information Minister, Bright Matonga, Nherera as well as Chombo, have been implicated in the scam by Shah’s production of recordings of conversations with all three officials. Shah has been granted immunity from prosecution by the Attorney General’s office. Nherera and Matonga, who are jointly charged in a separate case from the one for which Nherera is already serving a sentence, have claimed that the recordings were doctored in order to implicate them. Police are investigating Chombo’s role in the saga.
The minister was a state witness during the Nherera trial, but the magistrate questioned the credibility of his testimony, saying the police should probe deeper into the scandal.

ZimJournalists Arise Does Not Take Responsibility For The Content Of This Report