KCM Liquidator Arrested

The state-appointed liquidator tasked with splitting up Konkola Copper Mines, Milingo Lungu, has been arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission and charged with laundering more than $2 million. 

The commission says that Mr Lungu, acting in his role as liquidator, stole some K110.4 million and $250,000 between May 2019 and August 2021. The total he stole amounted to $2.2 million and he has also been charged with laundering that money.

Mr Lungu has been released on a police bond and is due to appear before a court soon. 

His appointment as liquidator of KCM in May 2019 triggered a long-running legal battle between the government’s investment holding company, ZCCM-IH, and the mine’s private owners Vedanta Resources.

In December 2020 Mr Lungu announced a restructuring plan in which KCM would be divided into two subsidiary companies and its assets sold off. However, in July of this year a tribunal in London ruled that ZCCM was in breach of its shareholder agreement with Vedanta and that Mr Lungu should be dismissed from his role as liquidator immediately.

Following the election of Hakainde Hichilema as president in August 2021, the new administration has taken a more favourable view of the mine’s private ownership. Last week, Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe criticised his predecessor’s decision to seize KCM from Vedanta, warning that “we must never ever bring politics in[to] the private sector.”

“Part of the mess that we are in is because of that liquidation process,” he observed.

Earlier this month, Vedanta announced it wanted to reopen negotiations with the government and ZCCM, saying it was prepared to invest a further $1.5 billion into KCM if ownership was restored. 

The company’s CEO Sunil Duggal said in a statement, “we are keen to resolve the current situation at KCM, and work alongside ZCCM, the government and all stakeholders to help build the mine back into one of the world’s leading copper producers.”