The son of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda is on the run from police after he was accused of corruption in the sale of state fixed-line operator Zamtel to a Libyan company, the police chief said Thursday.
Zambian police have issued a “warrant of arrest and written to all 190 Interpol member states. Henry has to answer to serious allegations of corruption,” police inspector general Martin Malama told AFP.
Henry Banda has been sought for questioning since October, Malama said.
He has not been seen in public since his father lost the September presidential election to opposition leader Michael Sata.
Henry Banda is linked to the sale of Zambia’s state-run telecommunications company Zamtel to LAP Green of Libya. Sata’s government reversed the $257-million deal in January.
Sata had campaigned on a promise to reverse the sale, which he said had failed to serve the public good.
Since assuming office, the new president has embarked on an anti-corruption drive, opening inquiries into shady business deals and retiring heads of parastatals whom he perceived as perpetrators of graft.
Henry Banda was instrumental in his father’s doomed election campaign last year. Voters received t-shirts and bicycles in the country’s most expensive campaign to date.
He reportedly fled to Kenya, but Kenyan police denied he was in the country.
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