By Linda Kwanjana
Two firms, Lloyd Electricals Limited locally owned by Hussein Nurmahomed Osman and Mauritius-based Teligenta are standing out as big boys that got a lion’s share in the Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) as exposed by a forensic audit and investigation report by the Auditor General dated 13th February 2024.
Ownership of Teligenta Limited remains a mistery, with a strong belief that it is a front and the owners live in Malawi, and not Mauritius where the company was registered.
Our findings are linking Teligenta to the same Nurmahomed Osman.
When Mwenelupembe & Mhango Company, auditors outsourced by the Auditor General to conduct the audit attempted to get hold of the Teligenta owners in Mauritius through telephone numbers obtained from the company’s invoices, the one who picked the call cut the line immediately the subject was introduced, according to the audit report.
In case you have forgotten; Teligenta is the same firm which, alongside another company, got a K3 billion windfall from ESCOM in a contract to supply bulbs, just seven days before the Constitutional Court ordered a fresh presidential election in 2020.
If that controversy was not enough, this time around, Teligenta and Lloyd Electricals have pocketed about K4 billion from the K6.7 billion EGENCO financial mess caused through irregular procurements that largely did not follow laid down procedures and not approved by the PPDA.
While Teligenta managed to secure the contracts and dealt with EGENCO on high value transactions, it left the auditors puzzled because, according to the report, the company only has one director.
According to the audit report, the auditors established that businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala had two companies that participated in contracts with EGENCO, L & G Tools Engineering, which got a contract of about K3.5 million in March 2018 and Novatech Engineering, which was awarded a contract worth K56 million.
In total, Batatawala’s firms only got about K59.5 million out of the 6.7 billion contracts.
Other companies that received big contracts according to the audit report include Voith Hydro, CCGT, LLC, Atlas Copco, Silverleaf Computers, Circles Enterprises and Yokogawaa Electricals.
Another controversy the audit report has raised is a situation where Egenco was exposed to contempt of court.
There was a court matter between Midima Holdings Limited, owned by Ali Osman, Vs Techfab International of India. Egenco on April 22 2017 entered into contract with Techfab to build, supply, deliver, install and commission 30 megawatts diesel power generation plant and equipment for Lilongwe and Blantyre at a cost of USD12,549,620.
On April 11 2018, Midima Holdings, not a party to the contract, obtained a freezing injunction from the court against Egenco in the amount of USD905,598.19.
The court order required Egenco to pay Midima Holdings, but the power utility company did not and instead paid Techfab straight. Measures were, however, taken to correct the situation and prevent Egenco from contempt of court.
Putting up a disclaimer, the auditors said their work was performed as per the Terms of Reference (ToRs) and the work did not constitute an institutional audit opinion in accordance with the international standards of auditing.
“In the circumstances where we could not obtain adequate documentation, one should not rely on our work and report as being comprehensive as we may not have become aware of all facts or information that one would consider relevant.
