TRANSPORT ministry legal affairs director Angelina Karonga is set to answer to charges of corruptly concealing a transaction from a principal after she was arrested yesterday as the Zimbabwe Republic Police closes in on massive looting and corruption currently obtaining in the transport sector.
She is set to appear before a Harare magistrate this morning (Friday)in connection with charges facing Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe general manager David Chawota.
Chawota allegedly flouted tender procedures for procurement of air traffic control systems to secretly hand pick a supplier against the advice of the board and in the process prejudicing the state of tens of millions of dollars.
Chawota was on Thursday morning denied bail for violating pre-existing bail conditions for another corruption related matter he is facing.
This publication also gathers that Karonga is also a director at a company which supplied the Transport ministry with millions of dollars’ worth of goods in unclear tender procedures.
In shareholding structure of the company named Akodac Consultancy Services, Karonga is a director along with Chawota raising questions over good corporate governance and the possibility of connivance in the current charges facing Chawota.
Meanwhile, Karonga is listed as a director at the scandal ridden Zim Airways at the same time she is also the Transport ministry’s head of legal department.
A ministry of Transport official speaking on condition of anonymity as they had no permission to speak to the media said the situation exposed the ministry to flawed tender processes amid an array of bad corporate governance practices.
It is not yet clear if the above charge will be added to the current charge that Karonga is facing.
Karonga once survived the chop and legal action after former Transport minister Joram Gumbo blocked moves by then permanent secretary in the ministry Machivenyika Mapuranga to suspend her and engineer Eric Gumbi.
The duo allegedly tried to block investigations into the abuse of state funds for the rehabilitation of roads in rural areas.
