- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AUTHORITIES in Zambia on Wednesday (29) said they have arrested Milingo Lungu, the liquidator of a major copper company for embezzling $9 million (£6.6 million), marking the latest twist in the southern African nation’s dispute with India’s Vedanta Resources, AFP reported.
Konkola Copper Mines, which is co-owned by Vedanta and Zambia’s state mining arm, is one the continent’s largest producers of copper.
Konkola has been caught in a tug-of-war between Vedanta and Zambia, which in 2019 put the company in liquidation for allegedly failing to pay taxes.
The 43-year-old Lungu was arrested on allegations that he misused his role to cash in on more than $2 million (£1.4 million). He has also been accused by the Drug Enforcement Commission, which probes money-laundering, of embezzling another $6.8 million (£5 million), mostly in local money.
“He has also been charged for money laundering for the said amounts,” spokesman Mathias Kamanga said in a statement, AFP added. “The money is said to have come into his possession by virtue of being the provisional liquidator for Konkola Copper Mines Plc.”
It added Lungu has been released on police bond and will appear in the court soon.
Lungu, however, called the allegations “baseless and untrue”.
The former government of Zambia handed Konkola over for liquidation two years ago, resulting in a legal dispute with Vedanta, the majority shareholder.
Hakainde Hicilema, the country’s current president who took charge in August, slammed the nationalist mining policy of his predecessor Edgar Lungu and pledged to bring investors back to Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In August 2019, Lungu’s office said he would not meet Vedanta Resources officials during his visit to India around then.
Shortly after Hichilema became the president, Vedanta said it was open to talks with the state and committed to re-investing $1.5 billion in Konkola.
