Charges can be dropped if Chiluba surrenders what he stole, says Nkole
Charges can be dropped if Chiluba surrenders what he stole, says NkoleBy Namakau Nalumango
Saturday May 10, 2008 [04:00]
CHARGES against former president Frederick Chiluba and others accused of plunder of national resources can be dropped if they surrender what they stole, Task Force on Corruption chairman Maxwell Nkole has said.
Featuring on Let The People Talk programme on Radio Phoenix yesterday, Nkole said if Chiluba and others came forward, the Task Force would 'cut' a deal with them because even President Levy Mwanawasa had offered to drop the charges in an event that they co-operated.
"We would cut a deal because even the head of state had at one time said that 'look why don't you bring back the money and we would reconsider dropping any other charges' but the former president said he cannot do that," Nkole said.
He said the Task Force was mandated to recover the plundered or stolen assets as a separate activity and to prosecute when there was evidence.
“We have options to consider when looking at these cases. If, in fact, we were able to trace these assets and recover them from the people, I think that the Task Force would have discharged its mandate,” he said.
Nkole said the government had been able to make a saving especially that Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Katanga governor Moses Katumbi surrendered property worth K5.1 billion.
“Essentially, he Katumbi was suing for K17 billion and through this agreement, we have been able to save a possible loss by the government of K17 billion to Mr Katumbi because judgment would have gone either way, anyway, on this matter. In addition, Katumbi surrendered assets worth K5.1 billion, essentially making a saving to the government of K22.1 billion,” he said.
Nkole also disclosed that in 2007, a team of experts came to look at the work of the Task Force in the last six years and produced an evaluation report, which indicated that its work was successful.
“We had been evaluated by experts brought in by the donor community because as you know, we wanted to be as transparent as we could be in terms of trying to make an assessment of our performance. So the cooperating donors brought in a team of experts; two British and two Zambians from Cabinet office representing us.
They did that paper which was presented to government and government has been studying that,” he said.
Nkole said he was aware that many people looked at the work of the Task Force as promises that were yet to be fulfilled.
“I think when I look at the administration of Mwanawasa, history will be written that he successfully waged war against corruption. On my own, I feel that the work that the Task Force has done over the last six years has set a firm foundation upon which this country can be built and meets policies which are to fight corruption,” said Nkole.
Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION, KATUMBI, MAX NKOLE, TASK FORCE
posted by MrK @ 12:01 PM
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