Econet pays Nyambirai $40 million for cutting deals

TN Holdings (now Lifestyle Holdings) founder and CEO Tawanda Nyambirai was reportedly paid a staggering $39.9 million by the country's leading telecoms giant Econet Wireless in September last year for securing its licence renewal and facilitating debt recovery from TelOne.

According to informed sources, the payment to Nyambirai raised eyebrows as there were reportedly a number of discrepancies in the transaction procedure, which include Econet's alleged failure to capitalise the consultancy fee onto the licence fee as required by accounting rules.

Sources said the other irregularity was that Nyambirai used the money he received from Econet to pay its subsidiary, Steward Bank $26million to reduce his debt with the financial institution in a case which has been likened to "Peter paying Paul so that Paul can repay Peter- literally".

There were also concerns as to why the funds from the consultancy were paid through TN Harlequin which specialised in furniture manufacturing and not consultancy.

Sources also questioned why the funds were also used to pay debts for third parties as well.