Last summer/fall we had our plywood sheathing replaced with Zip-R-9 sheathing and insulated the walls with Rockwool (R 15 or R 23 depending on the wall cavity depth). 

The contractor also ‘raised our foundation’ — creating a pseudo-foundation (why I am not sure) using pressure treated plywood attached to the lower frame of the house, placed PermaBase cement board over the plywood, then parged the PermaBase.  

The plywood-cement board units are about 12-18 inches high, with ~ 4-6 inches buried underground adjacent to moist soil and the rest extending upwards into the wall cavity.  The original concrete foundation only extends up a few inches from the ground level.  (see photos)

I started to smell a musty smell in the utility closet of the house, and since the drywall was not yet installed, I pulled the Rockwool out of the wall cavity and found this was damp, and the wall cavity plywood, sill plate and lower portion of the studs was visibly wet (also 100 % moisture reading on a moisture meter on areas of the plywood up higher that were not visibly wet.)  

After moving rocks & soil away from the foundation of the house, we’ve noticed the plywood is not covered nor treated with any type of water-resistant barrier (just cement board over plywood).  The cement board was parged, but not coated with anything else to waterproof it, and it seems to wick up moisture and hold on to it for prolonged periods of time.

I am concerned that over time this will result in mold growth in the wall cavities of our home that are in contact with this ‘pseudo-foundation’ setup since the cement board holds on to the moisture.  Also, after seeing the wall cavity, I suspect the exterior insulation and sealing is not doing the job I paid to have it do, since there are areas in our home with 4-12 inches of exterior non-insulated wall around the footprint of our house (we have removed drywall in other areas of our home since, and see this).

I have two questions, and welcome any thoughts or comments: 
1.  To keep the interior of the wall cavity dry and prevent wood rot over the years, what can be done about the cement board/plywood ‘foundation’ ?  

2. What can be done at this point to get the exterior insulation and air sealing I was aiming for by using  Zip-R9?  

Also, we do have a rainscreen- but it does not extend over this ‘foundation’, and please note that the photo of the foundation with the Rockwool filling the hole in the cement board/plywood is not the wall cavity I initially found the moisture in.

Thanks.