SILO board chairperson Lancelot Jena appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday over corruption charges.
Jena (70) is being charged for contravening provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
Magistrate Lazini Ncube granted him US$100 bail and remanded the matter to July 16 for a possible trial date.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti told the court that Jena used his position as the board chair to influence illicit deals which saw his handpicked wheat supplier Carefields Investments delivering wheat to Silo (Pvt) Ltd, and also forcing the management to pay the company first before other suppliers.
Silo is the commercial entity of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).The court heard that Silo managers had signed contracts with other suppliers such as CP Van Heerden, Stelta, Batake and Primeberg before Jena allegedly imposed Carefields Investments on them.On November 23, 2023, Jena unprocedurally handpicked Carefields Investments to supply the parastatal with 3500 tonnes ahead of four other suppliers.
When management raised compliance issues and violation of procurement procedures with Carefields Investments with Jena , he allegedly forced the management to disregard the government procurement procedures, which he referred to as unnecessary “bureaucratic processes”.
The State alleges that Jena ordered Silo to take delivery of 443 tonnes of wheat from Carefields Investments between November and December 2023, well before the company had signed the contract with the GMB’s commercial entity.
It is further alleged that sometime in December, the Silo’s chief executive officer in consultation with his management team resolved to haltwheat supplies to avoid overstocking, but Carefields continued to deliver on orders from Jena.Between December 14, 2023 and January 4 this year and at the instigation of the accused, Carefields allegedly delivered 500,3 tonnes of wheat.During that period, Jena is suspected to have forced management to ignore paying earlier suppliers and use the available bank balance to pay Carefields.
- Silo board chair up for corruption
