Maravi

Chiluba is lying – Malila

Chiluba is lying – Malila
Written by Lambwe Kachali
Sunday, December 28, 2008 12:36:27 PM

ATTORNEY General Mumba Malila yesterday said former president Frederick is lying that the Zambian government entered a consent judgment with his Swiss tailor Antonio Basile who has been ordered to pay back US $1.2 million taxpayers’ money which was used to buy his suits, shirts, pyjamas and shoes.

And Malila said Chiluba is attacking The Task Force on Corruption and The Post just to divert public attention from his case. Reacting to Chiluba’s claims that the London judgment has collapsed following a successful appeal by Meer Care & Desai in the House of Lords, Malila dismissed this as a lie.

Chiluba had on Friday accused the Task Force of conniving with The Post to cause public hostility against him because they conveniently did not report that the Attorney General had lost a case following Meer Care & Desai’s successful appeal. He said in his view, this meant that the London judgment had collapsed.

But Malila yesterday warned Chiluba against trivialising the London judgment which he said the government would soon register in the High Court of Zambia. He said it was clear that Chiluba did not understand the case in which the Zambian government lost to Meer Care & Desai. He said the loss was insignificant to give it publicity because it did not affect the overall result of the London judgment.

“The loss by the government in Meer Care & Desai appeal was a very insignificant loss. You see, we had a situation where two partners, Meer Care and Desai, were operating a firm and one of them was a receiving partner and was not involved in the day-to-day running of the firm,” Malila explained. “The other partner Desai was involved and the [London High] Court had found both of them liable for defrauding the government [of Zambia] and so on, and the [the judge] pegged on some legal principles that the partner is liable for the clauses of the partnership whether he is actually involved or not. But Meer appealed to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal agreed with him. So what it does is that it removes Mr Meer from the judgement but it doesn’t remove Mr Desai from the judgment. Mr Desai is still liable to obey the judgment. So to give publicity to that kind of a thing, it doesn’t affect the substance of the judgment. It doesn’t even affect the overall result of the judgment.”

Malila said the victory in the London judgment was a plus to the Zambian government in the fight against corruption and plunder of national resources.

“So now we have a situation where Dr Chiluba is saying the judgment collapsed because Zambia lost in the appeal. That is wrong, it’s a complete misconception,” Malila said. “The judgment hasn’t collapsed. We are proceeding to having it registered. Unfortunately, the registration process was before the late judge [Japhet] Banda. He had set 26 January 2009 as the date for resumption of the judgment. Unfortunately, he is dead now and it has to be reallocated to another judge. And we are geared to have this judgment registered. And as soon as it is registered, it will be enforced.”

Malila also said Chiluba was lying by saying that the judgment in which Basile was found guilty was a consent judgment.

“This wasn’t a consent judgment; there was a trial last week. There was a trial and the Solicitor General attended the trial,” Malila explained. “Mr Basile was cross-examined by our lawyer Michael Sullivan and he [Basile] broke down in the process of cross examination. In fact, what Basile did was that he appealed also against judge [Peter] Smith’s judgment. He appealed to the Court of Appeal. And the Court of Appeal agreed and retrial was done and now the judgment is out. They found him guilty.”

Malila said the Task Force on Corruption was doing a commendable job in the fight against corruption and plunder of national resources. He further observed that Chiluba’s attacks on the Task Force and The Post were meant to divert people’s attention from the case he was still facing in the courts of law.

“I think it is always important for a person who is legally represented to use his lawyers and the lawyers will interpret these things correctly and he will understand what they are talking about,” Malila said. “Dr Chiluba is misleading the people of Zambia because this is an issue which has to do with a legal process. So my advice is that ‘it’s important for him to consult his legal representatives. This [judgment] is a big plus to the Zambian government in this whole fight against corruption and plunder of national resources. We are extremely glad that this judgment has come out the way it has. And naturally we are keen to get the sum that has been adjudicated, due to be collected as soon as possible, and be put in the relevant account which will be used for developmental purposes in the country. So it is a big plus and it shouldn’t be trivialised.”

However, when contacted yesterday, Chiluba’s layer John Sangwa said he would fight Chiluba’s cases in the courts of law and not the press. Sangwa also said he would not comment on Chiluba’s remarks against the Task Force, The Post and Malila, outside court.

But Chiluba, through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, insisted yesterday that the London judgment had collapsed following Meer Care’s successful appeal in the House of Lords. He said he did not need legal counsel to hold such a view.

“They [Task Force] chose to hide the recent London judgment where the Attorney General [on behalf of the Republic of Zambia] has suffered a major loss in the House of Lords. As the case shows, Meer Care and Desai were the lead and major defendants as all documents show, and contrary to the assertion by Mr Max Nkole, the Task Force chairman,”Chiluba said.

He said he was alarmed by the continuous assertion by Malila that the London judgment that is before the High Court in Zambia for the purpose of registration would be registered and executed.

Chiluba said Malila required legal counsel because he should not think in absolute terms that his views should always be upheld by the court.

“The remarks are highly contemptuous to the High Court. The fundamental issue before the court is the registration of that judgment,” said Chiluba. “The Attorney General cannot speak in absolute terms that his views will be upheld by the court. The court is expected to determine on these issues. In my view, the Attorney General requires legal counsel on this matter.”

On Friday, Chiluba accused the Task Force on Corruption of conniving with The Post to push propaganda against him in a bid to protect the Task Force’s alleged collapsed image.

Chiluba was reacting to Thursday’s Post lead story which reported that the Zambian government had won a case in the London High Court and would recover US $1.2 million from Basile which he used to acquire his suits, shoes, pyjamas and shirts.

Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION, COURTS, MUMBA MALILA

posted by MrK @ 12:35 PM