Former Zambian minister of communications and transport, Dora Siliya, has appeared before a joint team of investigators regarding her role in the sale of telco company Zamtel.

Siliya appeared yesterday before investigators comprising the Zambia Police Force, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission over the engagement of Cayman Islands’ RP Capital Partners in the sale of Zamtel.

In 2010, state-owned Zamtel was sold for $257 million to Libya’s Lap Green Networks by Zambia’s previous administration.

And RP Capital Partners reportedly received $12.8 million from the Zambian government after the sale of Zamtel to Libya's Lap Green Network.

RP Capital Partners role in the 2010 sale was to evaluate Zamtel's assets ahead of its privatisation.

But last year Zamtel was repossessed by the country’s new administration, which claimed it was corruptly sold as guidelines set by the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) on the sale of the company were allegedly not followed.

Lap Green Networks is still contesting the repossession of the company by the Zambian government in the Zambian courts.

However, previous senior government officials, such as Siliya, are being investigated for the role they played in the sale of the country’s only total solution service provider.

“I exercised my constitutional right to remain silent before the team of investigators on the issue relative to the engagement of RP Capital Partners of the Cayman Islands in relation to the sale of Zamtel,” Siliya said.

She said matters relating to the engagement of RP Capital Partners on the sale of Zamtel are all in the public domain. She also said matters relating to RP Capital Partners were subject of the proceedings of a Tribunal constituted by the Chief Justice of Zambia whose findings are contained in a report submitted by the Tribunal to President Michael Sata.

Siliya said the Tribunal cleared her of any wrongdoing and duly exonerated of allegations of abuse of office even after the matter was subjected to the High Court and the Supreme Court.

The engagement of RP Capital Advisors, Siliya said, and the final transactions for the sale of Zamtel had been subjected to various approval authorities including Cabinet, the ZDA and the Ministry of Justice.

She added, “The matter has been settled in the past but it appears the matter has a tendency of being rekindled over and over again to prosecute what are deemed political opponents”.