The owner and managing director of Zambia Skyways Charter who is also Tourism Council of Zambia Chairperson Yusuf Zumla has denied involvement in the multi million US dollar and gold bars bust at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport – KKIA in Lusaka.
Zumla in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT stated that “ am not involved in it all…I don’t even know what is going on and my name is being tarnished”. All I know is that the police are investigating and that the mines minister made a statement on this.
The Skyways MD further confirmed that indeed the plane Beechcraft King Air B90 is under his company but that he was not personally involved in the bookings and that this matter was now with the police.
When told that his company’s aircraft King Air B90 was allegedly used to locally transport the gold that was to be exchanged for about US$10 million cash with an international private jet at KKIA which the Drug Enforcement Commission – DEC confirmed to be a private jet global express T7-WW aircraft, Zumla said he was not involved in anyway.
When asked if he was aware of who booked the plane as that information is now critical, he confirmed that his pilot was at the airport on Sunday, and that he does not work on Sunday’s.
“The pilot was here on Sunday, I didn’t even know that he was here on a Sunday, I didn’t even know why he had gone to the Apron (a place were planes park), so even I was asked [by the police] and I told them that I was not aware”.
When ZBT asked the Skyways MD to disclose who booked the aircraft, Zumla said his management is the one that handles all the bookings and that he was not aware. The investigators should now have that information.
Zumla complained that “I am a Zambian citizen, i seat on boards, am a very straight forward person, but some people want to tarnish my name for reasons best known to themselves”.
Investigations have continued in this KKIA gold scandal but members of the public are getting concerned that a massive cover up efforts are underway and may lead to the masterminds and connected people involved getting away scot free.
- Zambian Business Times
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