Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) hold different opinions over Paramount Holdings Limited’s eligibility to participate in public procurement.

While the AG argues that the company is still under investigation for forgery and therefore suspended from participating in public procurement, PPDA says the suspension was lifted in September 2022 paving the way for the firm to participate in any procurement.

Was contacted to clarify on his legal opinion on the matter: Nyirenda

But according to a letter we have seen dated September 7 2022, from the PPDA director general Edington Chilapondwa, it informs Paramount Holdings Limited that the AG advised PPDA that the firm had been removed from the list of companies restricted from doing business with government.

Wrote Chilapondwa in the letter Ref. No. PPDA/03/118: “On 1st September 2022, the Attorney General advised our office that your company has now been removed on the list of businesses restricted from doing business with Government.”

In another letter of the same reference number dated 19th January 2023, titled ‘To Whom It May Concern’ and copied to Paramount Holdings Limited managing director Prakash Ghedia, the PPDA boss wrote: “I write to advise that with effect from 1st September 2022, Paramount Holdings Limited is no longer on the list of suppliers suspended from doing business with ministries, departments and agencies.

Wrote Paramount Holdings about its removal
from PPDA list: Chilapondwa

“In view of the foregoing, the bidder should not in any way be disadvantaged in any public procurement proceeding on the basis that it is on the list of suppliers suspended from participating in public procurement.”

But the AG has indicated that although the suspension was lifted, investigations that led to the suspension are still ongoing adding that the results of the probe would lead to a debarment hearing.

In a letter Weekend Nation has seen dated January 27 2023, Ref. No. MJCA/AG/014 addressed to Deputy Ambassador at the Malawi Embassy in Tokyo, Joseph Chikwemba, titled ‘Status of Paramount Holdings Limited in Malawi’, the AG states that the company is also being investigated by Fiscal Police for alleged forgery of documents used to tender for the business of supplying to an agency of Malawi Government.

Reads the letter: “I have been informed that the case is ready for trial. A guilty finding against Paramount Holdings Limited may also affect Paramount Holdings Limited eligibility to participate in public procurement.”

When contacted to clarify on his legal opinion on the matter, the AG said: “Did I at any point in time say that investigations have been concluded…Did I at any point in time clear Paramount Holdings of procurement misconduct?”

The Tonse-led administration in 2020 suspended all contracts awarded by the Democratic Progressive Party-led government to review and conduct an audit on circumstances surrounding the awarding of the contracts.

The cancellation of the award of contracts happened when the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was reported to be probing Paramount Holdings Limited over a Ministry of Health K4 billion ambulance contract it was awarded in 2019.

ACB senior public relations officer Egrita Ndala told the media then that her organisation did not vet the award of the contract as mandated by the PPDA Act for single source methods of procurement and pursuant to the powers conferred on the bureau under Section 10 of the Corrupt Practices Act.

The AG’s current position follows the appointment of Paramount Holdings Ltd on November 1 2022, by Yamaha Motor Company Limited—who are the official manufacturers of Yamaha products in Japan—as the official importer of Yamaha motorcycles and other spare parts for the Malawi territory.

The AG has since cautioned the manufacturers from dealing with the company arguing that Paramount Holdings has not been cleared of all wrong doing.

Chikwemba on January 30 2023 wrote Yamaha Motor Company Limited (Africa Market Development Division, Overseas Market Development Operations Business Unit), and attached the AG’s letter.

In the letter which we have also seen, the deputy ambassador advises the company to pay attention to the AG’s opinion on the status of Paramount Holdings Limited with the gravity it deserves.

According to the letter, by virtue of Section 98(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, the AG is the principal legal adviser to the Government and heads Malawi legal department meaning he is responsible for advising government on all legal matters and conducts civil litigation on behalf of government.

Paramount Holdings Limited boss Ghedia refused to comment when Weekend Nation contacted him, saying he was yet to read the AG’s opinion.

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