Maravi

EDITORIAL: Smearing filth on others won't help you

Smearing filth on others won't help you
By Editor
Tuesday May 15, 2007 [04:00]

Lies and accusing others of all sorts of things will not help Frederick Chiluba escape the enforcement of the London High Court judgment. If Chiluba wants to deceive himself about the effects or consequences of this judgment, he shouldn't try to mislead others or the nation about it. There is nowhere the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) through its vice-chairman Stephen Lungu has issued wanton or careless statements displaying opportunism. The Law Association of Zambia has generally been very consistent on the issue of corruption and abuse of public resources and indeed power.

What LAZ vice-chairman Lungu attempted to do was to try and explain this judgment to the nation, in conformity with the objects for which LAZ was established under section 4 of the Law Association of Zambia Act Chapter 31 of the laws of Zambia.

Attacking other people will not help Chiluba. It may just land him in serious libel because he will fail to provide evidence to defend his allegations.

Chiluba is today accusing Dr Kenneth Kaunda of corruption but is forgetting that soon after taking over office, he had sought British assistance to investigate thefts and other acts of corruption against his predecessor and found nothing. He had even accused Dr Kaunda of having stolen books from State House and his belongings were searched at some warehouse in Lusaka and nothing was found. There is no way Chiluba would have kept quiet if over the last 15 years or so he had known anything belonging to the government or any other person stolen by Dr Kaunda.

If he could search him for books and hire British investigators to probe him, what would make him not nail him to the cross over thefts of millions of dollars? The truth is Chiluba is lying. And if today Dr Kaunda decides to sue him for libel, he will be in further problems; he will not be able to defend his allegations. And we urge Dr Kaunda to actually sue Chiluba for libel so that the people of Zambia can have another opportunity to know how malicious this shameless liar and thief can be.

Yes, there is no doubt there were projects which were undertaken under Dr Kaunda's government that for one reason or another failed. And some of them were totally misconceived. But there is no evidence that Dr Kaunda got kickbacks or was given any money by those who were involved in these projects.

Unlike in Chiluba's case where we can point out how he personally benefited from all these deals, it cannot be said to be the same with Dr Kaunda. As we pointed out yesterday, Chiluba's so-called friends and well-wishers whom he claims were giving him money, are invariably crooks who robbed the Zambian government with his assistance or connivance.

It is foolish and a waste of time for Chiluba to try and mount personal attacks on innocent people who have nothing to do with thefts or people who didn't share in his loot but have a legitimate right to say something on the money he stole because they have a stake in it.

Lungu is a Zambian citizen, and a taxpayer for that matter, and as such part of the money Chiluba stole belongs to him. So is Dr Kaunda and every other citizen of this country.

Even our cooperating partners or donors should have a say because they have been funding this country. This makes them stakeholders and entitles them to comment on Chiluba's thefts.

Chiluba is lying by saying the London Court has given him and other defendants 28 days in which to appeal. Where did he get this from?

Is it coming from some old White Book? Appealing is not a matter of right, especially where the judge has found as a matter of fact that Chiluba had stolen from the Zambian people; conspired to defraud the Zambian government and abused his fiduciary duty to the Zambian people. And he shouldn't be attempting to twist facts in order to make himself appear innocent.

There is nowhere where Chiluba has been sued for money that has been stolen from the Zambian government by other people, known or unknown, simply because he was president of the Republic at that time. In all the cases where Chiluba has been sued it is because he connived with others to steal or he stole. He is not in any way being made to pay for the thefts that went on involving government money simply on account of him being the president at the time.

And this is the argument he dishonestly wants to extend to Dr Kaunda. He wants to say that if such and such money or project was mishandled or failed under Dr Kaunda, then Dr Kaunda stole. This is stupid. It would be like saying because so much money has been spent on the failed Mongu-Kalabo road then Levy Mwanawasa who happens to be the President at the time has stolen. This is stupid logic that can only come from a head of a thief trying to run away from being made to account for his misdeeds.

And Chiluba is talking about appealing! To which court? Is it the same court being presided over by a white judge? Attan Shansonga, one of his co-defendants, on May 4, 2007 sought leave to appeal but it was rejected.

Chiluba also claims that the London High Court is yet to ascertain how much was stolen. This is not true. This has been ascertained. The only amounts that will need to be taken out of this are the credits arising from the recoveries that have been made by the Anti-Corruption Commission or the Task Force on Corruption. That's all, everything else has been ascertained.

And the argument by Chiluba that this was a default judgment is a lie which, if he had shame, he wouldn't peddle.

Chiluba and his co-defendants had entered defence in this matter. And he had all the trial bundles - of evidence. So what is he talking about by saying there was no evidence? There was five months of trial with Shansonga, together with other defendants, being cross-examined. There were 45 Zambian and two British witnesses. How can this then be a default judgment?

Moreover, it was observed in the Court of Appeal that Chiluba had accepted the fact that there was no question of these civil proceedings taking place wholly in Zambia and that they should take place in England to avoid inconsistent conclusions by different tribunals. Let us not forget that this was a case that involved not only Zambians but also nationals of other countries.

If each one of them insisted on being tried in their country, this matter could have been an impossibility in all respects. Therefore London was agreed upon by all - including Chiluba's lawyers, Chima Umezuruike, instructed by Messrs Bensons. Even this issue of jurisdiction when it first came up before judge Peter Smith, it was not about jurisdiction per se.

It was not on the basis that the proceedings had not been properly brought in the High Court in London. Chiluba's challenge was based on two factors. First it was said that he had a right to attend his trial in person and he was not being given that opportunity because he would not be allowed to attend in London. Second, it was contended that the civil proceedings in London should be adjourned until after the criminal proceedings in Lusaka were heard.
This is all Chiluba was concerned about. And the justification for this was that he would be required to give evidence in the civil proceedings and thereby reveal matters which he would deploy or not in the criminal case. Thus his right to silence would be infringed and the prosecution in Lusaka would be given advance warning of what he would say or might say.

This application was rejected and the judge indicated that he would be willing to travel to Lusaka as a special examiner so that he could hear Chiluba's evidence, among others, live in a court in Zambia. Nobody argued against that point. And these civil proceedings were ring-fenced. Chiluba has never disagreed with his London lawyers on this because that's what he had agreed with them to say.

But now he wants to concoct all sorts of lies and show that he was not given a chance to defend his case in London. When will Chiluba stop lying? The truth is Chiluba and his friends entered a defence and were properly represented, unless Chiluba is telling us that his lawyers in London had no instructions from him in what they did. But he has never challenged them on this score.

The truth is that Chiluba is not ready to face any tribunal whether in Zambia or elsewhere over his thefts. And this is why for over a year, he has been dodging court using all sorts of excuses, including medical, but had energy and time to address press conferences and churn out long and endless press statements. Chiluba seems to have a lot of energy to fight people outside court but he has no energy to defend himself in court.

Chiluba has energy and time to speak to the press but he doesn't seem to have energy and time to even entertain a few questions from them. At his last press conference, Chiluba didn't allow anyone to ask him a question. Why? The truth is he has no answers and as such he never accepts questions about what he did. So all these things Chiluba is talking about are nonsense, and the most prudent thing for him to do is to shut up.

If he truly wants to explain things or exculpate himself, let him start attending criminal proceedings in Lusaka and not run away when things become hot like he did in the civil proceedings in London. It won't do for him to try and defend himself out of court in matters that are before courts. There is very little that he will do to stop the enforcement of the London High Court judgment. Even if he was to be given a chance to appeal in London, he stands no chance because the judge established as a matter of fact that Chiluba had stolen; he had conspired to defraud the Zambian government.

Attempting to smear other people with his filth will not help Chiluba. And as Andrew Sardanis has correctly observed, there are people who may feel sorry for him and may not want to kick him when he is down. But if he continues on this path, even people like Sardanis, whose morality does not allow them to do so, may lose their cool and give him a kick that will totally finish him off.

Labels: CHILUBA, KENNETH KAUNDA, LAZ

posted by MrK @ 4:14 PM