Maravi

Chungu explains why he ran away

Chungu explains why he ran away
Written by Laura Mushaukwa-Hamusute
Friday, December 12, 2008 4:20:46 AM

Former Zambia Security Intelligence Services (ZSIS) director general Xavier Chungu yesterday told Ndola High Court Deputy Registrar Jones Chinyama that he fled the country in 2004 because his life was in danger.

And Chinyama ordered Chungu to pay K500 million for jumping bail or face six months imprisonment in default.

Meanwhile, Chinyama has discharged a bench warrant issued against Chungu in another matter where the state disjoined him to the case by way of a nolle prosequi.

This is in a case in which Chungu was charged for contempt of court after jumping bail in 2004. Chungu was granted a K500 million bail in 2003 with two working sureties in his own recognizance, but he fled from the country and thus did not appear before court at the scheduled time.

The state then applied for a bench warrant against him, which was granted and this bench warrant remained in full force until Chungu returned to Zambia last Wednesday.

When the matter came up yesterday, Task Force prosecutor Fred Malambo gave the court a background of the case, highlighting Chungu’s circumstances at present. Chinyama, who sat as a magistrate, asked Chungu whether the position the state had presented before court was a true reflection of the circumstances, to which he agreed.

In mitigation, Chungu’s lawyer Nicholas Chanda urged the court to take note that Chungu’s arrest was not effected by the state but that he decided to present himself to the authorities so that he could clear himself of whatever cases he had left. Chanda said it was not intentional for Chungu to disregard court procedure without cause.

He said the reason Chungu fled from Zambia was because he had been tipped by one of his confidantes that his life was in danger. Chanda said Chungu fled Zambia to preserve his life and not to run away from the cases against him. He said Chungu had seven other cases before the courts before he left where he diligently followed procedure and was acquitted.

Chanda said before fleeing the country, Chungu had stayed in prison for over a year and there would be no reason to run away. He contended that Chungu’s return should serve as mitigation enough for whatever punishment the court was to mete out on him.

Chanda pleaded that Chungu was remorseful, humbled himself and deserved leniency. He asked the court to scale down the recognizance sum of K500 million, taking into account the credit crunch, which had hit the whole world. He said by Zambian standards, K500 million was a lot of money and that Chungu had not been in gainful employment since he fled. He also said Chungu’s properties had been confiscated by the state and his terminal benefits from ZSIS had not been given to him.

Chanda argued that the state had enough security from Chungu. He said the other mitigatory factor was that his client had spent six days in prison since his arrest last Wednesday.

But Chinyama in his ruling said Chungu was in breach of the court order and his conduct was unacceptable. He said it was a fact that it had been four years since Chungu left the country and court proceedings were disrupted without him giving the court any reasons for doing so. Chinyama said Chungu was clearly in breach and had to be dealt with according to the law.

He ordered the forfeiture of K500 million of the recognizance sum, anchoring his decision on section 131 of the Criminal Procedure Code, saying the amount should be paid within 14 days. Chinyama warned that Chungu would be jailed for six months if he failed to comply with the court order.

At this point, Task Force prosecutions lawyer Mutembo Nchito wondered what would happen to Chungu’s bail. However, it was resolved that Chungu had to apply for fresh bail.

Chanda asked if he could file the application for bail but was told to do so at the High Court after the conditions of the order had been fulfilled. Chinyama referred Chungu’s matter to the chief magistrate and it will come on December 22, 2008 for re-allocation.

With respect to Chungu’s other matter, Nchito told the court that he was granted bail of K5 million in own recognizance but on May 4, 2004 he absconded court and a warrant was issued. He said that later the proceedings against Chungu were discontinued by way of a nolle prosequi.

In response, Chanda asked the court to declare the bench warrant against his client a nullity, explaining that after the nolle prosequi, Chungu was no longer an accused person. He said the state made an application to substitute the indictment against Chungu and as at now the warrant could not stand. Chanda said all the interlocutory applications relating to the matter were considered a nullity and according to the law in the circumstances, even the guilty pleas had to be quashed.

But Nchito contended that the warrant was issued because of the court order against Chungu, and not the indictment.

Chanda reiterated his argument saying the warrant was as a result of the same proceedings and there was no indictment against Chungu because it had been substituted.

After considering the arguments by both the state and the defence, Chinyama discharged the bench warrant against Chungu, resting his decision on section 81 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Labels: XAVIER CHUNGU

posted by MrK @ 4:19 AM