Posted on 08/07/2002 9:58:50 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA - At the Jordan Inn, a small cafe in a dusty settlement 10 miles outside Lusaka, nearly everyone has strong feelings about Zambia's former President Frederick Chiluba.
"He's a thief," shouts Lameck Make, a local butcher. "He should go to jail."
"We should make an example of him," chimes the cafe's patron, Valentine Munyake.
Few Zambians have good things to say about Mr. Chiluba, who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from the public coffers. Instead, they're cheering on the anticorruption campaign of the country's new president, Levy Manawasa.
In a bold political move, Mr. Manawasa – hand-picked by Chiluba – has turned his sights on his predecessor and other former officials. In doing so, Zambia – considered one of the world's more corrupt countries by Transparency International – may emerge as a model for how African countries can clean house, and win aid money.
The case stands to be a first test for a continent that just weeks ago, at the launch of its new pan-African body, the African Union, pledged to promote good governance in order to attract Western investment.
"Zambia has set an example here," says Dipak Patel, an opposition member of Parliament and former member of Chiluba's cabinet who, along with three others, was recently acquitted of defaming the former president. "The image of Africa is that it's corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. Here in Zambia we're doing something about it."
Chiluba, who denies all the charges against him, swept to power in 1991 after the country's first multiparty elections, ending the 27-year reign of the country's independence hero, Kenneth Kaunda. Chiluba's election was cheered as the beginning of a new era of multiparty democracy and free-market economics. But over time his party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), fractured as many members left, alleging corruption.
Last year, after Chiluba unsuccessfully tried to alter Zambia's Constitution to allow himself a third term in office, he picked Manawasa – a former vice president who quit the government in 1994 over concerns about corruption – to be his successor.
Observers say that Chiluba thought Manawasa was distant enough from the previous administration to appeal to voters, but close enough to be controlled by Chiluba.
Manawasa won the December election – now being contested in court – squeaking by a field of 10 candidates crowded with new parties headed by former MMD members. (Manawasa is accused of rigging the election, a charge he denies. Most observers say the charges against him are unfounded.)
But Manawasa has not become Chiluba's puppet. In fact, observers say Manawasa has used the anticorruption campaign to unite opponents and shore up his base of support.
In an unprecedented speech before parliament on June 11, Manawasa accused the former government of using a secret bank account to siphon millions of dollars to Chiluba's family and members of his administration. He also said that Chiluba had paid $20.5 million to a Congolese businessman for weapons that never materialized.
Much of the evidence was unearthed by the legal team defending Mr. Patel and his three co- defendants. Key to their case was evidence of the secret account, which they learned about from a series of anonymous brown envelopes filled with copies of bank statements and receipts left on the defendants' doorsteps.
Since Manawasa's speech, several high-ranking government officials, including Zambia's Chief Justice and foreign minister, have resigned in disgrace.
Chiluba himself is currently fighting to maintain his presidential immunity through the courts. The court is due to decide on Aug. 16 whether Parliament exceeded its authority by revoking it. If the court rules against Chiluba, a full investigation will be launched and a criminal trial will likely result.
Manawasa's willingness to take on corruption has improved his reputation in the country. Less than a third of voters supported him in the last election.
"He's good. We like him because he's dealing with corruption," says Violet Mtonga, as she hangs clothes at her home next door to the Jordan Inn.
The president has earned a grudging respect even among members of citizens groups who say that the MMD rigged Manawasa's victory.
Still, many say that they worry the new president will not have the political will to carry the campaign to its end. Manawasa says that he will pardon Chiluba if he returns what he stole. This has outraged many in civil society.
"I think he needs to be caged," says Bishop Paul Mususu, director of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia and a prominent civil society leader. "Both as an example to others that as a country we will not accept this, and to show that no one is above the law."
Zambia is not the only southern African country grappling with a long-time leader accused of corruption. In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe continued his 22-year reign in March with an election victory that most say was rigged.
But Zambia is the only country that has successfully blocked such a leader from staying in power, and threatened to hold him accountable for his actions while in office.
Bishop Mususu says Zambia's success is due largely to pressure from its civil society. Already, civil leaders from neighboring Malawi have come to ask for advice on how to defeat their own president's attempt for a third term.
For his part, Manawasa says that if he's found guilty of election rigging, he will respect the ruling of the courts.
"The most important thing is that the process of the law takes it course and that we start with a clean slate," says Emily Sikazwe chairperson, of Women for Change, a local group that is outspoken on the corruption issue.
AS Ari Ben-Menashe arrived in Harare yesterday, it emerged that among his many shady international business deals, he was involved in several multi-million dollar contracts with the Zambian government of Frederick Chiluba in 1997 and 1998.
Sources allege that the controversial businessman, who was described by Time magazine as a “veteran spinner of stunning if-but yarns”, was involved in various contracts worth about US$33 million (Z$18,15 billion).
Efforts to contact government officials in Lusaka were fruitless yesterday.
But it is alleged Ben-Menashe, representing a Canadian firm called Carlington Sales Company, was introduced to Chiluba by Rajan Mahtani, a businessman closely linked to the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.
The Zambian government allegedly paid US$7,8 million for the procurement of maize, which was never delivered. The issue was swept under the carpet because of Ben-Menashe’s close friends in the government.
An earlier maize contract worth US$24 million failed to materialise after Carlington Sales Company withdrew a six-month line of credit to the Zambian government following reports of the foiled army coup in 1997. In the deal, Ben-Menashe was allegedly working with Alexander Legault, an American who was allegedly present at the meeting with Tsvangirai in Montreal in December.
Legault has an outstanding warrant of arrest on fraud charges related to an investment scheme in Florida. He has been indicted in three states in the United States for fraud committed 18 years ago involving a US$13 million scam which deprived over 300 pensioners of their life savings.
Carlington Sales Company was also contracted during the privatisation of copper mines in Zambia. It was appointed to head-hunt for potential buyers, but clashed with the Zambian government when the contract was allegedly handled by Anglo American Corporation.
The Zambian government also contracted Ben-Menashe and his colleagues to play down allegations of gun-running by the Angolan government in 1998.
Angola accused several senior Zambian politicians of sponsoring arms to Unita. Chiluba’s government allegedly paid US$1 million to Ben-Menashe to use his contacts in the US Central Intelligence Agency and the United Nations to downplay the allegations and spruce up Zambia’s image.
A Zambian Ministry of Finance official issued a statement after the failed deals involving Ben-Menashe.
Part of the statement, issued in July 1998, reads: “We should learn a lesson from President Chiluba’s experiences with these characters (middle men). The President’s use of Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli Mossad officer, to import maize failed.”
Ben-Menashe, 51, who was born of Iraqi Jew parents in Tehran, has written a book on political dirty tricks called Profits of War.
The book contained allegations against Ronald Reagan, the former US president, later described by a Congressional investigation as “a total fabrication”.
Menashe a master of 'dirty tricks'
Vincent Kahiya
ARI Ben-Menashe - the man who set up MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in an elaborate operation involving an assassination plot against President Robert Mugabe - is a master of "dirty tricks", the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. He was described by Time magazine as a "veteran spinner of stunning-if-true-but... yarns".
Yesterday the Independent heard that Ben-Menashe's company Dickens & Madson has been heavily involved in arms for diamonds trade together with senior military officers in Zimbabwe. A source close to the dealings said the company was flying diamonds from Harare to South Africa where they were being cut before being flown to East European capitals to be exchanged for weapons.
Ben-Menashe - yesterday described by diplomatic sources as "one of the dodgiest men in Canada" - is an Iranian-born veteran Israeli spy who worked as a personal security advisor to former Israeli premier Yitzhak Shamir for 12 years.
He served in the external relations department of Israel's Military Intelligence and is a former Mossad deputy chief.
Ben-Menashe is described as one of "six on Israel's top-secret Joint Committee on Israel-Iran Relations, who spent years globe-trot- ting for them, setting up fronts and transferring millions in cash".
The former Israeli spy gained international notoriety after his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair or "Irangate" in which he was accused of providing false information to the media and lying to the US Congress under oath about a shady arms deal.
Ben-Menashe's political consultancy, Dickens & Madson, has been working with the Zimbabwe government for the past three years. It has connections with several African despots.
Ben-Menashe has written a sensational book - Profits of War: Inside the Secret US-Israeli Arms Network. It deals with a worldwide arms conspiracy.
In the mid-'80s he made unproven claims about the "October Surprise" in which he alleged that former US president Ronald Reagan's election campaign team arranged a deal with Iranian and Israeli officials to delay the release of US hostages held in Tehran until after the poll in November 1979.
The unfounded allegations were that Reagan's campaign officials, specifically William Casey, plotted to delay the release of the hostages for electoral gain. This alleged act of sabotage was supposedly undertaken to prevent Jimmy Carter from arranging a release of hostages in October, just prior to the 1979 election.
Although Ben-Menashe was acquitted by a New York federal jury in 1990 of charges involving the alleged illegal sale of Israeli-owned C-130 Hercules aircraft to Iran, his record still remained riddled with controversy.
In November 1990, ABC News gave Ben-Menashe a lie detector test concerning his allegations about the Iran-Contra affair. According to Christopher Isham, an ABC producer, Ben-Menashe failed it dismally.
In March 1992 Ben-Menashe was described by the Jerusalem Post as a "notorious and chronic liar".
"There are a number of apocryphal stories about Lev Leviev, the Israeli diamond mogul who has become one of the Jewish world´s pre-eminent philanthropists.
Among these stories, which have acquired almost mythological status among Leviev´s followers, is the one about his 1990 audience with the late Lubavitch rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson."
We are supposed to read only the article posted and think...."oh those Africans...they can't run anything."
A few months ago, I would have bought that lie.
I was wrong.
Mugabe, Taylor and the rest would not be in power without the money coming in from outside. During the Cold War there was some excuse for the west messing up Africa. There is no longer any excuse. The crooks dealing in arms for diamonds and other natural resources should be chased out of Africa.
Ben-Menashe pathetic?I have two comments regarding Ari Ben-Menashe. Firstly that, as a patriotic Zimbabwean who loves this country, soon-to-be President Morgan Tsvangirai wouldn't go to a foreigner to do a job for money that he knows thousands of Zimbabweans would do for free.
Secondly, I heard this Ben-Menashe babbling on ZBC about how he supported Mugabe and believed in Africa for the Africans. If you ever get a chance to interview him, ask him if as a staunch anti-colonialist he also believes in Palestine for the Palestinians.
Pathetic!Mike Davies,
Harare.
Disinformation in your case. Like your attempted slander of Leviev who freeper *alloutte* just happens to have the honest information on.....
We are supposed to read only the article posted and think...."oh those Africans...they can't run anything."
Most who are anti-Semitic are also racist so I don't believe you Larry. Not for a nanosecond. You have no love for Africa except that you can try to hammer a few Jewish businessmen over the head with diamond trading etc.
You only wish you could do business in such a chaotic continent. (You failed at the import/export game.) Templesman can and so can other *Jews* that you are posting about. You are jealous
Can't get much more liberal than Tempelsman. He gave $20,000 to Ron Dellums the rep who swore he would tear down America's intelligence services "nail by nail, brick by brick." The UN Security Council thinks Lev Leviev is no good:
"69. . . a whole network of Israelis was established, including Mr. Gertler in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lev Leviev in Angola and Shmuel Shnitzer in Sierra Leone. In all three cases, the pattern is the same. Conflict diamonds are exchanged for money, weapons and military training. These diamonds are then transported to Tel Aviv by former Israeli Air Force pilots, whose numbers have significantly increased both in UNITA-held territory in Angola and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Israel, these diamonds are then cut and sold at the Ramat Gan Diamond Centre."http://www.congojeunesse.com/report3.html
Question of the day, who replaced Ron Dellums on the Armed Services committee?
Hint, a lovely young lady from Georgia.
This nonsense is all about keeping radicals of the Dellums-McKinney ilk in power.
Birds of a feather, all three of them.
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