Message Dim 18 Mai 2014 18:26

Milupi urges govt to act on Agarwal

Milupi urges govt to act on Agarwal
By Gift Chanda and Noel Iyombwa
Sun 18 May 2014, 14:00

ZAMBIANS must not be taken as fools over their minerals by investors like KCM owner Anil Agarwal, says Charles Milupi.
Meanwhile, Chingola residents have resolved to petition President Michael Sata over the happenings in Konkola Copper Mines.
Vedanta Resources, KCM's parent company and owned by Agarwal, revealed that over the nine years it has owned KCM, it had just declared US$75 million in dividend payments - of which a fifth was to the Zambian government.
KCM made the statement against revelations that Agarwal mocked the Zambian government over the paltry US$25 million he paid to buy the mine, which is now giving him US$500 million in profits every year.
Commenting on Agarwal's confession, Milupi, who is ADD leader, said it was not true that Vedanta had taken very little out of KCM.
"Agarwal has come out very clearly to say that in fact they are making a lot of money. Agarwal is the chairperson of the whole group. He knows what he is making. The statement that they have. Zambians must not be taken as fools. The chairman is the owner of the company, that is the one person who knows what is coming in and in this case Agarwal has told us he is very happy with what is coming out of KCM because of what he has done."
In a video released by activists from Foil Vedanta, Agarwal boasted of raking in US$500 million each year from Zambia's biggest mining operation which he bought in 2005.
But Milupi said the government owed Zambians a duty to recover the lost money from KCM.
"Agarwal is saying the mine was worth US$400 million and he only paid US$25 million. So they must immediately go back and get the US$375 million difference with interest. In addition, the US$500 million Agarwal says he is making per annum, the government should tax him. Let the government go and collect the windfall tax on that US$500 million," Milupi said.
"ZCCM-IH, on behalf of the Zambian people owns 20 per cent of KCM, so over those years, since KCM has been making that US$500 million, let them go and get 20 per cent share of that US$500 million. We are talking about US$100 million share per year to ZCCM-IH. We need to recover all that money."
He said it was because of such fraudulent activities being perpetuated by investors that the Zambian stakeholder had in the past called for the reintroduction of the windfall tax.
"We have to be very thankful to Agarwal for being very honest, for vindicating what we have been saying for a long time. And I think it is a wake-up call to this government, despite the fact that they have completely shut their ears to reason in terms of the windfall tax," he said.
"Agarwal has come out very clearly to say that in fact they are making a lot of money in the mines. Everything has come out in the open; the government must do what is necessary. Let them act. Let them even reintroduce the windfall tax. Windfall tax was easy to administer. You cannot have sophistication."
Milupi said it was unfair that the government was watching KCM exploit Zambia's mineral wealth without charging them proper tax.
"President Michael Sata should immediately recall Parliament so that they can come and legislate the reintroduction of windfall tax because these happenings are not just applying to KCM; they are happening in the mining sector," Milupi said.
He condemned the government's inertia on issues surrounding KCM.
"The government has been quiet and they know exactly what these mining companies are doing. They know and that is why when they were in opposition they supported the reintroduction of the windfall tax. But just before they went into government, they changed their mind," Milupi said.
"What changed? What did the mining companies pay them to shut their eyes to the gross theft that is going on in the mining sector? They have never given us a good reason for opposing the windfall tax. We have been asking questions but we were instead called lunatics, now who are lunatics here? We are losing money, at the same time we are going to borrow at commercial rates! "
Milupi said the government had the power to ensure that Zambians rightly benefited from their mineral wealth.
"But so far they have kept quiet, unable to issue a statement. They need to act on Agarwal's revelations," said Milupi.
And at a community meeting under the auspices of Extractive Industries Transparent Initiative spearheaded by Caritas Zambia and Catholic Diocese of Ndola's Justice and Peace programme at Chingola's Mokorro Grill on Friday, Chingola residents resolved to petition President Sata on the KCM scandal.
The meeting, which discussed the EITI Zambia report for 2011 released in February 2014, left the community infuriated after discovering discrepancies in figures that KCM claimed it paid to the government and those the government confirmed receipt.
The petition will be signed in Chingola on Wednesday.
A planned protest protest in Chingola against KCM was cancelled for security reasons.
And the community proposed that Chingola Municipal Council introduces an open day once a year for it to communicate its achievements and challenges to the community.

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