Libyan Foreign Minister Ashour bin Khayyal was quoted telling Reuters that the government will make sure to protect its 75% investment in Zambian operator Zamtel.
This comes a few days after the Zambian government said it would reverse the 2010 Zamtel…
Libyan Foreign Minister Ashour bin Khayyal was quoted telling Reuters that the government will make sure to protect its 75% investment in Zambian operator Zamtel.
This comes a few days after the Zambian government said it would reverse the 2010 Zamtel sale to Libyan LAP GreenN and appointed a new acting CEO for the company.
In 2010, LAP GreenN, owned by the Libya-Africa Investment Portfolio (LAP) group, acquired a 75% stake in Zamtel from the government, which owns the remaining 25%, for US$257m.
But the new Zambian government that came to power in autumn 2011 started inspecting some commercial deals organised by the previous administration.
Subsequently, justice minister Sebastian Zulu reportedly concluded that the Zamtel sale had been fraudulent and allegedly illegal because LAP GreenN had failed pre-qualification tests and Zamtel had been undervalued.
Yesterday, Khayyal reportedly said that he has already raised the issue with his Zambian counterpart during the African Union summit in Addis Ababa. He added that the Zamtel investment was Libyan money and that a delegation would be sent to Zambia to discuss the issue in the next few weeks, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mumba Malila was quoted telling Zambia Daily Mail that the government would soon decide whether to compensate LAP GreenN for the reversal of the Zamtel sale.
