Government has reversed the procurement contracts of Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) with Bradwell International and Cargo Scan, which the Kingsley Chanda commission of inquiry says were fraudulent.
Further, cabinet has directed the reversal of the concession of Kasumbalesa, Nakonde, Jimbe, Kipushi, Mwami and Chanida borders.
Minister of Finance Alexander Chikwanda disclosed this when he released the findings of the commission of inquiry into the operations of ZRA.
Mr Chikwanda said cabinet at its sitting on Wednesday accepted without reservations the report on the findings of the commission of inquiry and deemed it fit to reverse the fraudulent procurements by ZRA.
He said cabinet has ordered that ZRA assumes ownership of the scanners and work out appropriate measures for loan repayment for the scanners with immediate effect.
Mr Chikwanda also ordered that the cargo scan contract on the operations and maintenance of smith detection scanners and the Bradwell contract on the operation of Nuctech scanners be terminated.
Government has decided to take up responsibility of developing infrastructure at the borders following the cancellation of border concessions of Jimbe, Nakonde, Chanida, Kipushi and Mwami to one concessionaire.
Mr Chikwanda said Government should immediately take over the Nakonde border infrastructure development project which was concessioned under a Public Private Partnership(PPP) arrangement, when it was 75 percent complete and had already cost K23 billion.
He said all policies and pieces of legislation that deal with awarding public contracts be revised, in particular the PPP policy whose act is defective and at variance with the public procurement act.
Mr Chikwanda further ordered that the PPP unit at the ministry of finance be immediately restructured and administratively re-organised to enhance efficiency.
And according to the commission of inquiry in relation to the cargo scan contract, ZRA invoked section 32(2) (C) which provides for additional goods, works or services being procured from the same source for compatibility, standardisation or continuity.
The commission established that Cargo Scan limited, a company that partnered with Smith detection, was not in existence at the time the bid closed, which was a requirement in the tender document.
For competitiveness, transparency and value for money, the commission of inquiry is of the view that prior to the expiry of the warranty period, ZRA should have gone for open tender to procure a local company to operate and maintain the scanners.
And the commission found serious irregularities in awarding the contract to Bradwell international.
Bradwell was awarded a contract to maintain and operate scanners when ZRA staff had already been trained to operate the scanners and Nuctech was responsible for maintaining them.
Secondly, the commission established that there were security concerns that Government needed to take care of in contracting Bradwell. However, these concerns were refuted by the managing director of Bradwell.
In paying Bradwell, Government issued a statutory instrument that required trucks which were over 3.5 tonnes to pay an examination fee of K360, 000 at all borders regardless of whether scanners had been deployed or not.
“In sharing the examination fee, Bradwell was to get a lion’s share of 85 percent while Government, the owner of the scanners, was to get a meagre 15 percent,” the report reads in part.
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