Tricksters target State House, Tanzania oil company duped as Mgeme disowns contract document
A Tanzanian oil company has been duped by conmen in Malawi in the name of State House, the Presidential Press Secretary Mgeme Kalilani has said after disowning contracts documents.
According to a letter circulating on the social media, State House in Malawi wrote the company asking for $20,000 dollars for a contract on oil. The company honoured the payment thorough FMB Bank.
Kalilani whose signature appears on the letter has disowned the letter.
‘‘It’s completely bogus,” Kalilani told Nyasa Times when he was quizzed to explain.
Speaking from New York where he is accompanying President Peter Mutharika at United Nations General Assembly, Kalilani told Nyasa Times that he received an inquiry from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday asking about the letter. According to the Ministry, a Tanzanian company has approached their Mission in Lilongwe to find out the authenticity of the documents.
“I told them the documents are completely bogus, the purported State House letter did not come from me. My office does not deal with oil. I have told them to report the matter to Police,’’ Kalilani said.
In apost on Fcaebook, the presidential press secretary maintained that the communication “neither came from State House as purported nor from me as an individual.”
He wrote: “What I have gathered from the inquiry is that the said money was eventually paid to the thieves using an account domiciled at the FMB Bank. My attempt to understand the transaction has not yielded desired results.”
Kalilani added: “I have advised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask the Tanzanian mission to report the matter to police as a matter of urgency so that they can investigate.
“Since there appears a complainant, a bank slip, and an account number on the transaction, I am of the view that investigating agencies have enough leads to get to the bottom of this matter.”
Kalilani has asked the general public to “tread carefully” when approached by individuals posing as State House officials.
“State House does not handle any contracts on behalf of the Government of Malawi and the State House Press Office is not a secretarial office of the Government of Malawi. The Secretarial office of the Government of Malawi, is the office of the Chief Secretary,” he wrote.
According to the documents, the fraudsters demanded the K14.7 million as part payment of their agreed contract fee, which was to be paid by instalments within four months. The company duly deposited the $20 000 at FMB Bank Capital City Branch account number 10000122890 on July 31 2018.
The company, in turn, was given a government General Receipt (GR) J no 61888564 for contract fee no. 1000064/18 with station being OPC.
The letter said the contract is with effect from July 1 2018 and advised the company to come in “person” to sign the agreement form of the contract within October 2018.
On his part, State-owned National Oil Company of Malawi communications officer Telephorous Chigwenembe, imports fuel into the country, said he was not aware of the contract.
The letter in circulation is combining two offices, OPC/ State House and presents the Presidential Spokesperson as representing both.
In the letter, the name of the Presidential Spokesperson is also mis-spelt.
This is not the first time the State House has been targeted for use to con unsuspecting business men.
Last July other conmen also authored a letter apparently coming from Presidential Press Secretary asking for funds to fund the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) convention. State House disowned the letter. The conmen disappeared and they have not been found.
State House has meanwhile repeated its warning to individuals to treat anyone asking money from them in the name of presidential palace as a suspect and report the thieves to police.
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Bogus? Mwana mbu make mbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!! Inu mumayamba kukana kenako timva kuti ndi zoona koma kungoti…………………..!! Muja mnachitira za K145m pa dzana paja!!
Zikuoneka kuti mgemenso ali ndi ma account kofikira makobili ngati bambo ake…………………………!! kikikikikikikikiki!!
Kuchenjera pa Malawi!!!!!
The Tanzanian oil company should have been a little more diligent before paying the deposit. Firstly, they should have conducted thorough due diligence before signing the contract and once satisfied then pay the deposit. There’s no way any credible company can rely on documents which can easily be forged in today’s digital world.. in fact when a buyer solicits for upfront payment, alarm bells should go off. Ordinarily for these kind of transactions one would require performance guarantees and not upfront deposits. Secondly, even in the face of KYC, crooks can still open an account with fake IDs. It’s possible… Read more »
Ukakhala wakuba zonse amangoti ndiwe. We can’t trust dpp any more. Mkazi or mwamuna akagwidwa nchigololo basi zonse zimayipa. Yaponda yamwa. With Zameer and Alamu Pumani Mwakalamba stealing K145 million, who can trust dpp. You want to blame utm for this? You are stealing fuel at ESCOM. You receiving kick backs from suppliers and road construction companies. APM nkhalamba yosakhuta.
This Tanzanian company is full.of fools and thieves. Apapa tingoti atambwali ametana. Why give 20,000 dollars US for supplying something? Weren’t they supposed to be paid by government? Such corrupt companies need to be duped like this. Bravo to whoever duped this stupid company.
AND YOUR SLEEPING DOG ACB IS JUST WAITING FOR YAS AND JOURNALISTS TO INVESTIGATE ??????
Mgeme’s mouth is full of lies and he has never come open to tell us that this is truth.All along he has been denying about corruption in the DPP led government,the K145 ETC,so what is he trying to say here?You have got the evidence and you know the Account Number plus the BANK where the money was deposited,FMB,so what are you waiting for to investigate?On additional to this,it bears the signature of Kalirani Mgeme,what else do you want to take the matter further?Shame on this GOVERNMENT!
use logic. infact to someone who have worked in government knows the procedures. secondly if its a deal or corruption, their was know way they can put it in writing becoz state house/press officer has no mandate a letter on behalf of mera.
it seems even the Tanzanian company could have noticed that something is not adding up. why not verify first before making any payments.
ziliko nkulinga utatosa timva zambiri chaka chino mpaka seal state house stamp koma nkuma kanabe tiyeni nazo
Is this a job for Tanzanian Police?
yes plus Malawi police. remember the company pays tax to Tanzanian govt to be used to assist them in times like this. they should lase their Malawian counterparts to ensure justice for their citizen
am also of the view that these letters are genuine.