…NIS Deputy Director paid for the fake statement
…Lapa creates new website, email to cover tracks
If you thought President Lazarus Chakwera administration learned anything from Bridgin Foundation, well he did not. He loves scammers or anyone who promises quick cash. That is how he met a Polish man who calls himself Professor Dr. Marcin Lapa.
Marcin Lapa, according to our due diligence report has never delivered a single grain of fertilizer or fuel in the world, that Malawi would be his first life changing jackpot- courtesy of the Malawi Government.
But Lapa did not come to Malawi to deal in fuel or fertiliser, no, the clever Office of the President and Cabinet Secretary Colleen Zamba already had a perfect deal- get 60% of National Oil Company (NOCMA) fuel supply contracts and 600,000 tons of fertiliser supply contracts.
These two are huge contracts, but as Helen Buluma told parliament two years ago- Zamba was desperate to award the contracts, by all necessary means. The only question only President Lazarus Chakwera can answer is, why is he not acting.
He knows Lapa, photos of them two meeting and smiling are emerging. And to continue fooling Malawians, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) using its Deputy Director (Counterintelligence) Wisdom Chimgwede was the one who went to pay cash for the fake adverts that appeared in the press on Monday, The Investigator Magazine gathered.
The fake statement that was meant to fool Malawians
In countering The Investigator Magazine- a long and rambling statement alleging that is from the Office of the Sheikh Ahmed Al Qassimi and signed off by Marcin Lapa, three clear things emerge. The office email is different from the email The Investigator Magazine found on the website of the genuine Sheikh Al Qassimi www.alqassimioffice.com
Dr. Lapa’s new website which shows that he registered himself is www.qassimi.ae and was registered this month after The Investigator Magazine pointed out that the fake “Sheikh” did not appear on the official website.
The website is registered by Dr. Marcini Lapa whose email address is listed as marcin.lapa@shkgassimi.ae and he is also the tech contact name, highly unusual for a busy gentleman with eight high profile positions.
The new email address has been enlisted on the website is office@qassimi.ae whilst The Investigator Magazine contact which it used for communication obtained on what genuine is info@hhshkqassimi.ae.
“The most suspicious thing about the totally new website is that on who registered it, it shows to be Dr. Marcin Lapa and only this year. This is an embarrassing content for someone who won contracts so huge like 40% of the Malawi budget,” said an ICT expert we gave to compare documents and sites.
“A whole President of the Board registering a website tells you how fake and fake and fake it is,” charged our Investigative officer who is now contacting all the people Dr. Marcin Lapa’s new website alleges to be members of the Foundation.
The second element of the fake statement authored in Malawi, the logo a flying eagle on website and earlier documents suddenly has landed on the Malawi press statement. Social media influencers Stanley Kenani and Gerlad Kampanikiza noted the huge disparity in logos.
This proves that the statement did not originate from the “genuine office” but from desperate teams who forgot to do proper check, as they have been missing from the start.
The most interesting is the profile of Dr. Lapa!
Who is Professor Dr. Marcini Lapa, a professor from diploma mills
Dr. Marcin Lapa is a polish national born in January 1982, he has registered address in the United Kingdom, where he, like most companies or individuals President Chakwera’s administration has been engaging, appears to have registered and run a string of companies that went under after a few years.
It is not clear which University he went but he touts signs off, if it is true as Professor Doctor Marcin Lapa, master’s in business administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Laws (LL. B).
His Linkedln profile shows he attended Southampton University where he obtained a Bachelor of Computer Science, the International American University for an MBA in International Finance and a Master of Laws (LL.M) at Buckinghamshire New University.
The International American University (IAU) is a well-known diploma mill while the BNU does have an LL.M but in commercial law not International Law. We could not ascertain his qualification as he does not indicate the years he was at the said Universities.
His doctorate is said to be from European International University in Paris in Global Leadership and Management. The University is another well-known diploma mill which uses a whatsapp number for recruitment
His last well-known address was in East Ham in London.
From Diploma mills to Vice Chancellor with “posthumous award”
For a conman whom President Lazarus Chakwera and his SPC Colleen Zamba wants Malawians to be believe has an ear of a billionaire Sheikh, his CV is very colourful of bogus institutions that mainly exists on paper.
Professor Doctor Marcini Lapa has a colorful history and has included a ridiculous “posthumous” award which is the first of its kind in the world to be given to an individual. The Investigator Magazine is dying to meet him and get a gist of what this award entails.
He is a Vice Chancellor and Vice President of a Dubai based Maverick International University whose website www.mbalondon.org.uk makes the posthumous award but lists him as advisor to the Dubai Royal family and a “friend of African Governments.”
The ridiculous write up paints Dr. Lapa as a well-connected man but not an investor of any kind.
He has never been an investor nor delivered any fertiliser of fuel anywhere in the world.
His failed ventures and QLV Digital FX
According to the date in UK, some his ventures have been forcibly closed in the UK for failing to comply with standards including a company he had founded in 2015 alongside a Malgorzata Bugajska-Lapa called First Gazette which was struck off by the Company House of UK in 2018.
His second traced failed institution in the UK was registered as Martius Hills Ltd again in 2015 and was dissolved later.
He skips mentioning these companies and with his fake qualifications he emerged in Dubai as a venture capitalist with a litany of companies and a claim to be President of H.H Sheikh Ahmed Al Qassimi’s office from November 2019 to date.
He is also Chief Executive Officer Victoria Mines and Minerals opened in January 2023 and, of FDI World in El Salvador, Chairman of EVACO Cables opened last month in Harare, Zimbabwe, he also is CEO of Noor AL-Nahda Investment and Chairman of the QLV LLC.
In Malawi, the fake professor has registered a company called QLV Digital Fx which is a foreign exchange bureau that is allegedly going to receive all the trillions of kwachas for fuel and fertiliser.
The QLV according to our findings are Qassimi LAPA Venture, which will be unusual for the Sheikh’s office to partner with own employee or advisor for a business deal. But he found gullible public officials in Malawi he could impress.
None of his ventures deal with oil or fertiliser
For the huge quantities Ms Colleen Zamba and President Lazarus Chakwera are signing off to a “doba doba” with 50% payment in advance, not only is it negligence of public duty but a potential fraudulent transaction confirmed by the desperate attempts to justify the deals.
The fake professor does not have any access to fuel and fertilizers as the OPC would like Malawians to believe and it would be interesting to note that his meeting with President Chakwera in Dubai, fuel was never on the agenda.
How President Chakwera fits into the picture
Nobody has a picture of President Chakwera or SPC Zamba with Sheikh Al Qassimi signing any agreement worth K1.5 trillion and none of the Dubai Royal Family members have been brought to visit their new investments.
Instead, Marcin Lapa posted, not one but two pictures with President Chakwera earlier in the year after Government awarded them illegal mining licenses for gold mining in Kasungu.
The pictures show the room to have been likely in Dubai as the official flags are those that are used when he travels.
It is illegal to issue to small scale mining, but Marcini Lapa’s QLV Digital FX apparently got the license within 15 days- thanks to the high connections President Chakwera and Zamba. They submitted it on 16th March of this year and got it by 28th March 2024. By June hey had a full license.
The deal- according to a high placed source, President’s Chakwera’s advisor Ephraim Chibvunde was at the centre of the deal, as the company would use the “free money from fuel and fertilizers” to finance mining and take the gold to Dubai.
Lapa confirmed he already had an export license for a 14 sq km mine in Kasungu.
Money laundering scheme?
Another source said Lapa was a front for a high-profile money launderer currently hiding in Malawi who has US$75 million stashed somewhere outside Malawi and would like to bring into the country. (The Investigator Magazine will publish names and places once it verifies the details.)
“The man tried Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) but he was invited to explain. He fears FIA as last time they blocked his accounts. He went to a famous prophet (name withheld) but they did not make headway. Then he bribed Aviation and military officials, but they grew cold feet. He now has a direct line to the State House, so the money would be used to pay off fuel and fertiliser and he would be paid kwacha,” said a source who gave a wide range of names.
He challenged that if the deal came from the Head of State there was no way he would be able to act on SPC Zamba and everyone involved, that is why there have been more embarrassing attempts to cover it up.
NOCMA’s due diligence trip to Dubai
NOCMA Management travelled to Dubai to conduct a due diligence trip, a fact it’s under pressure CEO Clement Kanyama omitted to tell the nation in another disastrous attempt by the OPC to fool Malawians after the story broke out.
The silence from the Presidency is telling, speaks clearly of the involvement of government deception project as Kanyama and two managers- his deputy and legal advisor- allegedly travelled to Dubai but did not meet or inspect any facilities.
“The trip turned out to be a tourism event. They were told they could not inspect the fuel as it was at a military installation, or the Sheikh was busy. They wasted taxpayers money. Worst still they put the sheikh on restricted tender when they knew they did not see anything,” said a source.
The next story: Who owns the local companies’ bank accounts and verified money laundering details.
