By Wisdom Mumera
One firm, Paulos Construction, has been in the news after presenting a bill of US$15 million for the State House precast wall.
The shocking news only came to light at the payment stage.
Otherwise the initial agreement with all details had been accepted and agreed to.
The amount is shocking not just in its enormity but also in the fact that it had been accepted by officials through initial stages.
This deal is however only the latest platform for one man whose trail has forever been blighted by scandal.
Paul Tempter Tungwarara is listed as the Director of Paulos Construction.
Previously he has also been described as Special Presidential Investment Advisor to President Mnangagwa.
The list of scandalous financial acts his firms and self have been through provide a disturbing picture.
The image is given both a modicum of sanity and a strange pose by the absence of any criminal charge or conviction against him.
Harare City Council
In 2017 Paulos Construction was part of a shady deal for bitumen tar at Harare City Council.
On 13 December 2017 Paulos Construction wrote to City of Harare offering to sell bitumen tar 70/100 at $1.45 per kg.
Council accepted and within 9 suspicious days officials had approved all paperwork and paid US$246 000.
However, by 2018 Paulos had only delivered 100 leaving a shortfall of 750.
Council allegedly lost over US$200 000.
2019 Council Refuse Scandal
In 2019 the City of Harare produced an audit report that accused the company of fraud.
The audit report detailed how council had been fleeced of over $62 000 by Paulos Construction.
However, Paulos said it had been a mistake of double payment by Council.
The Construction company actually wrote to Council highlighting the issue.
“Following our reconciliation done on December 7, for our year-ending reconciliation, we write to inform you that the payment of invoices of the pilot project that we submitted to your organisation was paid twice, which leads to over-payment.
“Kindly advise if this payment is for another month of refuse collection.
“If so, please advise us accordingly before our holiday shutdown (sic),” read the letter.
Tungwarara had another defence for the case.
“The MDC council is pushing a political agenda with false narratives because they do not want companies owned and controlled by people linked to Zanu PF”.
2023 Cyber City Warfare
In 2023, a few months after being celebrated for leading the US$500 million Cyber City project, Tungwarara found himself in another storm.
He was accused of swindling the foreign investor, Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk, of funding for the project.
Tungwarara had allegedly defrauded the businessman of US$2 million and naming President Emmerson Mnangagwa as his protector.
They were even reports that he had been booted out.
He however, denied the accusations or reports of being booted out.
One ex-policeman Spencer Muchamiri was named as the guy leading the onslaught against Tungwarara.
When contacted, Tungwarara denied the allegations, saying, “It’s all lies.
“I’m still part of the project.”
He rode and survived that storm.
2022 Presidential Borehole Scheme
In the run-up towards the 2023 elections Tungwarara’s Prevail Group International (PGI) was contracted to drill approximately 10 000 boreholes.
He was contracted together with Scott Sakupwanya’s Better Brands.
They were to drill 35 000 solar powered boreholes and nutritional gardens in all the country’s villages.
Unlike Better Brands, Prevail was lauded for maintaining its professional standards.
This was after it commissioned several state of the art solar powered boreholes.
However, as in previous situations he soon found himself under a cloud of controversy again.
Some sections accused him of inflating prices.
Some unnamed sources quoted in the media, from ZINWA, claimed that the prices charged by Prevail International for drilling the boreholes were exorbitant.
They allegedly exceeded US$12,000 compared to other companies providing similar services for around USD$6,000.
