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Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
The Silo board chairperson, Lancelot Jena, has appeared in court for bypassing Government’s procurement process and handpicking a company to supply wheat.
Jena (70) was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and appeared before Harare regional magistrate, Mr Lazini Ncube, charged with contravening the Public Financing Management Act.
He was granted US$100 bail and will return to court on July 16 for the provision of a trial date.
Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleges that in November 2023, Jena used his position as the board chair to influence shoddy deals which saw his handpicked wheat supplier, Carefields Investments, delivering the cereal to the parastatal.
The State alleges that Silo had already signed contracts with CP Van Heerden, Stelta, Batake and Primeberg to supply wheat.
When the management raised compliance issues and violation of procurement procedures with Carefields Investments, Jena forced the management to follow his instructions.
Before a contract was signed between Carefields and Silo and under Jena’s instruction, Carefields delivered 443 tonnes of wheat to the parastatal from 29 November 2023 to 5 December 2023. Jena allegedly forced management to pay Carefields ahead of legally contracted suppliers.
The State further alleged that sometime in December, the company’s chief executive officer, in consultation with the management, agreed to halt wheat supplies to avoid overstocking.
The court heard that from 14 December 2023 to 4 January this year and at the instigation of Jena, Carefields resumed deliveries that totalled 500,3 tonnes.
During that period, Jena would force management to ignore other suppliers and use the available resources to pay Carefields.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter