PPDA ban 3 Suppliers implicated in Covid response funds plunder

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has banned three suppliers that were implicated in the massive Covid-19 misprocurement scandal.

This is according to a statement signed by the PPDA’s Acting Director Timothy Kalembo.

The three are Stamile General Dealers, Memory Mhango, and Niya Enterprise while another supplier PES has been given a written warning for questionable transactions.

The development follows their guilty verdict from disciplinary hearings that the Authority held in May this year, involving the K6.2 billion Covid response funds plunder.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that the funds were mainly misappropriated through fraudulent and unprocedural procurement deals.

President Lazarus Chakwera ordered the debarment of the firms implicated in the Covid financial scam after the audit report.

The PPDA statement explains that the expelled firms will not be involved in any public procurement for a period of 2 to 3 years.