Maravi

Chiluba felt cheated by his lawyers - ACC officer

Chiluba felt cheated by his lawyers - ACC officer
By Noel Sichalwe
Wednesday August 29, 2007 [04:00]

An Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigations officer Vincent Machila yesterday told Deputy High Court Registrar Jones Chinyama that former president Frederick Chiluba had confessed that he felt cheated by lawyers Eric Silwamba and Vincent Malambo over the acquisition of their two houses in Lusaka’s Kabulonga and Roma areas. And Machila said Chiluba was not personally involved in the money transactions that form the basis of his theft charges.

Meanwhile, Chinyama yesterday ruled that the witness statements for Malambo and Silwamba could still be tendered as evidence against Chiluba since they did not have anything relating to lawyer-client relationship.

This is a matter where Chiluba is charged with theft of about US $488,000. He is also separately charged with former Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) director Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu.

Machila said in his continued evidence that when investigating the matter, Malambo had told him that after representing Chiluba in the presidential petition case, Chiluba promised to remunerate him with a house. He said Malambo stated that subsequently Chiluba personally gave him the keys to house number 12, Reedbuck Road in Kabulonga.

Machila said Malambo stated that before acquiring the Kabulonga house, he wanted to get another house which was later discovered to have been mortgaged. He said Malambo further explained that Chiluba had personal money in the Zamtrop account. He also said Silwamba had told him that after representing Chiluba in the 1996 petition, they had an oral agreement to the effect that they would be given houses.

Machila said in 2002, the duo noticed that the allegations of misuse of funds as announced by President Mwanawasa when he addressed Parliament might involve their houses. He said that was the time Malambo and Silwamba told Chiluba to enter into a written agreement and backdated the contract to the year when they had an oral agreement.

Machila said Silwamba told him that they decided to backdate the contract in written form to protect their houses.

"According to the statement, Dr Chiluba's reaction to backdating the contract was that he felt cheated by his lawyers," he said.

Machila said after collecting all the necessary documents, he established that the two houses were bought with public funds.

He said he then interviewed the trio but that they opted to remain silent. He said he later made up his mind, arrested them and later released them on bond.
In cross-examination by lawyer John Sangwa, Machila said when he gathered the necessary documents, he handed them over to Bank of Zambia financial analyst Maulu Hamunjele to trace the movement of funds.

Asked how Chiluba stole the US $50,000 in the first count, Machila said Chiluba did not participate in the movement of funds from AFSL to Standard Chattered Bank where the cheque was cashed.

Machila could, however, not categorically state when Chiluba possessed the money he is alleged to have stolen. He said the US $50,000 was never in Chiluba's possession and that Chiluba never played any role in the movement of funds.

Asked about Chiluba's second charge of US $125,000, Machila said the money was moved from AFSL account to a law firm DH Kemp. He said Chiluba never played any role in the movement of the money and that it was never in his possession.

Machila further said even the US $148,000 amount in the third count was never in Chiluba's possession and that he was never involved in its movements. He further said his investigations had revealed that the signatories to AFSL account at United Bank of Zambia (UBZ) were Aaron Chungu and Kabwe.

Machila could further not state that Kabwe was involved in the movement of funds though Chungu had authorised one cheque to be cashed. He, however, said Chungu had the power to authorise the issuance of a cheque because he was a bonafide signatory.
Asked why he focused his investigations on about US $800,000 out of the US $4.6 million transactions that AFSL had made, Machila said he was given a specific assignment.

Machila also said Malambo and Silwamba had told him in 2002 that Chiluba had some private funds in the Zamtrop account from private sources. He said he was not aware that Hamunjele had found about US $9 million in Zamtrop account which was from private sources.

"I didn't request Mr Hamunjele to investigate private funds on Zamtrop. I was interested in being assisted to trace specific payments and the issue of private funds did not arise," he said.

Asked why he did not want to investigate the private funds on Zamtrop account to come up with balanced findings, Machila said he did not want to influence the outcome of the analysis.

He said he did not consider investigating private funds on Zamtrop account necessary and that he had to choose what to investigate. Machila said AFSL was having funds for various clients and had various bank accounts where all the money was mingled.
He said among AFSL clients was the Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS). He said during the course of investigations, he talked to former ZSIS director general Xavier Chungu who refused to say anything on the matter.

Sangwa wondered why Machila investigated the misappropriation of the funds when clients like ZSIS did not complain. Machila said after Chungu refused to say anything on the matter, he got some documents that have since been tendered in court as evidence relating to the same transactions.

He said the people he interviewed when investigating the matter told him that the US $50,000 and US $125,000 was meant for the purchase of Silwamba's house while the US $148,000 went towards the purchase of Malambo's house.
Hearing continues today.

Labels: ACC, CHILUBA

posted by MrK @ 6:36 PM