CORRUPT ZRA DIRECTOR FIRED AFTER ZWD EXPOSURE Zambia Revenue Authority Director of Investigations George Siame has been fired. Siame was fired on Thursday 23/01/14 after the ZRA board recommended that he be fired for grand corruption. According to a source, ZRA Commissioner General Berlin Msiska tried to defend Siame but the uncompromising board told Msiska that if he was not going to fire Siame, then the board was going to recommend the dismissal of Msiska instead. At this point Msiska had no option but to succumb to pressure and fire Siame. Siame as Director of Investigations at ZRA is reported to have been receiving bribes from a number of business houses the proceeds he used to come up with a highly mechanised farm on Lusaka-Kabwe road. The investigations into Siame’s conduct were launched after the Zambian Watchdog uncovered a scam in which Siame was receiving money from Blue Finance. Blue Finance acquired Nedfin Finance with its liabilities. Nedfin owed the Zambian government millions of Kwachas in form of taxes. ZRA officers then sent a demand notice to Blue Finance but Siame stopped the demand notice and instead received Kick backs from Blue Finance. The ZRA board then picked up the story and instructed the Anti Corruption Commission to launch investigations. ACC in a report linked Siame to a number of corruption activities. “This man (Siame) was defeating the ZRA Motto of pay taxes not bribes. Instead he was simply saying pay bribes not taxes” the source said. And reports indicate that Siame a day after being fired went to see Finance Minister Alexandra Chikwanda to see if he could be re-instated but Chikwanda refused. “On Friday We are told he went to see Mr. Chikwanda but Chikwanda refused because the board has overwhelming evidence. It could have been tricky for Chikwanda because the board was going to ask for a tribunal for Chikwanda to be investigated” the source said. Siame was dismissed in 2011 after he was convicted for assaulting his boss then a woman the age of Siame’s mother. When the PF came into power, Siame was re-instated and promoted. He then fired everyone who testified against him including the driver who took him to Police.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 09:09:01 +0000
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