Organised Crime: Vigilant cops nab 3 Atlas Copco managers

Organised crime is on the increase throughout the country as this report in the Times of Zambia of March 23rd 2009 shows.

THREE managers at Atlas Copco have been arrested in connection with alleged theft of mining equipment, which act has been going on at the Chingola’s head office. This comes barely two weeks after two other Atlas Copco employees were apprehended for allegedly stealing K50 million worth of drill rods.

Both police and Vanguard Investigations Limited (VIL) confirmed the detention of a customer service manager and two former site managers to the Times in Chingola. VIL managing director, James Kasamanda, said the trio had allegedly been conniving with some mining companies to steal spares used in servicing mining equipment. VIL is a private investigations company hired by Atlas Copco to help the company trace the white-collar crime, nab perpetrators and recover stolen property.

Captain Kasamanda said at times, the suspects stole in full view of all the employees by purporting that the goods were being transferred from one branch to another while using forged documentation.

“These three suspects when stealing used genuine names of other employees when in fact they avoided using their true identity. VIL has come to realise that the level of connivance on the Copperbelt is so high and there is need for mining owners to have the employees vetted because we have discovered that the same culprits move from one company to another. Through the same connivance with briefcase business companies, Atlas Copco employees smuggled larger consignments of drill rods into Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.

He said Atlas Copco management, VIL and State law enforcement agencies were working hard to pin down the suspects because most of the people involved were professionals who graduated from universities. Capt Kasamanda said the fight against corruption and money laundering was not supposed to be left to the Anti-Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission alone.

He said there was need for an expanded method of operation to covert surveillance in Government and the private sector if money laundering and corruption are to be fought successfully. He said the stolen spares, recovered at NFCA in Chambishi from a Chinese firm together with the suspects, are at Chingola Central police station.

Capt Kasamanda, who has been seen around Chingola for the past one month, said US$300,000 worth of drill rods for Atlas Copco, which had gone missing in transit from South Africa, were still being investigated to establish their whereabouts. Those arrested earlier for allegedly stealing K50 million worth of drill rods include the stores officer, assistant security officer and dispatching officer.