Maravi

Rathi’s jailing: where does it leave Chiluba?

Rathi’s jailing: where does it leave Chiluba?
By Editor
Fri 13 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT

The conviction of Anuj Rathi by chief resident magistrate Charles Kafunda is a welcome development. A lot of attention needs to be paid to what magistrate Kafunda said. We need to meditate deeply over the observations made by magistrate Kafunda when sentencing Rathi.

Magistrate Kafunda observed that corruption is a serious problem in our country. He said that in sentencing Rathi, he wanted to set an example that corruption such as the one Rathi was involved in is not going to be tolerated.

This is the kind of attitude that our people expect from their protectors – the judiciary. It cannot be denied that corruption is wrecking havoc in our country. It’s evidently clear that in this country, corruption starts from State House, with the president himself. This is why many of our people have lost confidence in the ability of the political leadership of this country to deliver services. It is clear that those who are in power are there for their own purposes and not for our people.

Without a vigilant and brave judiciary, our country is headed nowhere except disaster. This is why the clarity with which magistrate Kafunda decided the Rathi case is a welcome reminder that all is not lost. We say this because many of our people have begun to believe, and not without cause, that there is a law that applies to the poor who steal and another for the rich and powerful who plunder public resources. The treatment of Rathi is a reminder that all should be equal before the law.

Rathi is a very interesting character because it is not the first time that we are hearing about him. He was very active during the years of Frederick Chiluba in office. Rathi was a briber of the rich and the powerful. In the case before magistrate Kafunda, he has been convicted for paying the school fees of the convicted former Zambia National Service commandant Lt Gen Wilford Funjika.

Lt Gen Funjika gave Rathi contracts to supply uniforms to the Zambia National Service in return for favours. But it was not only Lt Gen Funjika who got favours from Rathi. Chiluba, by his own confession in court, received money from Rathi and his wife. If Lt Gen Funjika’s receipt of money from Rathi was corrupt, what about Chiluba’s receipt of money from Rathi? Why was Chiluba receiving money from Rathi, a man who was corruptly pursuing government contracts when Chiluba was president?

Chiluba was not the only powerful person in our country receiving money from Rathi. There were other government officers and parastatal heads and chiefs who were on Rathi’s payroll. This is why the conviction of Rathi is a significant development in the fight against corruption in our country.

Businessmen like Rathi who are responsible for the loss of millions and billions of kwacha through corrupt dealings with public officials have gotten away scot-free and pretended to be astute and clever businessmen when all they were doing is bribing their way into government contracts and laundering stolen public funds.

But what is frightening and extremely disturbing is that Rathi was able to do all this because of the complicity in his crimes of the head of state and government – Chiluba. It cannot be denied in any way that the head of this country was rotten. Chiluba was rotten and he ran a rotten government where stealing public funds was the order of the day. This is why we wonder what Rupiah Banda means when he says Chiluba was a damn good president! Damn good president in what? In stealing, in corruption, in money laundering, in what? Unless Rupiah says all these things are damn good things for a president to be involved in. If these are damn good things, then Rupiah is telling us that he tolerates and admires Chiluba’s despicable criminal acts.

Another interesting development in magistrate Kafunda’s judgment was the order that Rathi be stopped from benefitting from his criminal acts. This is what magistrate Kafunda did when he ordered Rathi to pay back the 342,000 pounds which he benefitted from the corrupt contract that he got from Lt Gen Funjika.

This is a good message to the foreign companies that think that they can come into our country, corrupt our public officials and make money the easy way without being accountable. It is a warning even to the companies that are today getting fraudulent contracts from Rupiah’s government thinking that their dealings with today’s public officials will always be secret, will not be challenged tomorrow.

We say, as we have always said, that there is a day of reckoning. Yesterday was a day of reckoning for Rathi, tomorrow it might be ne of these companies getting controversial public contracts from Rupiah and his government. At least the judiciary is telling our people that it is possible to claw back and give the Zambian people the necessary and deserved redress.

The Rathi case also demonstrates the patience that those who claim to fight corruption need to have. It has taken many years for Rathi to be finally convicted. In fact, he had even run away and gone back to India. It is not clear why he came back soon after Rupiah was elected President. We don’t know whether Rathi expected to be given the same treatment that was extended to his friend Chiluba by Rupiah. But what is clear is that he has not been that lucky. There is no doubt Rathi came back because he believed he had the protection of some powerful people and could buy his way. But this has not worked.

Everything has got its time. Rathi’s hour came and went. We can only hope those who are today engaged in similar activities are learning something from this, are realising that the protection that they are receiving from this government and its officials will not last forever. Even for Chiluba, today he is enjoying the protection of Rupiah – he has been questionably acquitted and his protectors have withdrawn the appeal against his acquittal, making him untouchable and appear to be above the law.

But they won’t be in power forever. Their time to go will also come and Chiluba will be left like a small fish in a jar – with nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. That day is very near for Chiluba. Today they can deceive themselves and others who want to be deceived that they will go scot-free. Yes, scot-free – but just for now.

The conviction of Rathi clearly demonstrates why Chiluba should have been convicted and should shame those who are refusing to appeal. Chiluba himself received money from Rathi. And this same Rathi has been convicted for corruption with public officers. Can it be said that the money that Chiluba received from Rathi was lawfully received?

Jones Chinyama, the magistrate who acquitted Chiluba, convicted Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu – Chiluba’s accomplices – for being found with money suspected to have been unlalwfully obtained. Why didn’t he find the same for Chiluba who was clearly receiving money in unlawful circumstances for a person in the position of president? This is why we say Chiluba’s acquittal was a shameful political fix which should embarrass anyone who has any morality. All of Chiluba’s accomplices, including his own wife Regina, are being convicted except Chiluba himself. Why? How is this possible? There is something seriously amiss!

Anyone who doubts that Chiluba is a thief should go and read what Chiluba himself said about Rathi. Today, Chiluba even has the courage to say he had money from friends in the Zamtrop account - what friends? Rathi? This is the money Chiluba says the Zambian people owe him – the bribes and illegal commissions he was collecting from unscrupulous businessmen like Rathi!

We hope that Chiluba is going to carry through his senseless threat of trying to claim US $8 million from our people which he claims to have been keeping in the Zamtrop account. At least this will demonstrate once again what kind of thief he is.

As for Rathi, apart from spending more days in jail, he also has to pay our people before going back to India. The order for him to pay back, as important as it may appear, is not the most important thing. What is more important is that a precedent has been set that high-flying businessmen like Rathi and other corrupt elements that deal with them can be brought to book.

This precedent will help deepen the rule of law in our country. We say this because we have heard certain elements suggest that law enforcement such as the work done by the now disbanded Task Force should be a profit making business. The Task Force was supposed to make a profit. We don’t know where this nonsense comes from because law enforcement is not a profit making business. If this was so, our police service, Anti Corruption Commission, Drug Enforcement Commission and all other law enforcement agencies would have been disbanded a long time ago.

This said, we cannot ignore the fact that although this whole undertaking was not for profit, there have been some significant recoveries and savings that cannot be ignored. It is now up to Rupiah and his government to collect US $45 million from Chiluba and other huge amounts of money from his accomplices that have been ordered by the London High Court. But the question is: how is Rupiah going to do that when he has publicly declared that Chiluba is an innocent man, a damn good president? We also know that the Task Force did a lot of work that saved the government hundreds of millions of dollars.

And for this, we cannot ignore to give credit to Levy Mwanawasa and other patriotic Zambians – Mark Chona, Maxwell Nkole, Mutembo Nchito and many investigators – who worked tirelessly to make this a reality. We can only hope there are many Zambians of that mould to push this fight a bit further.

Labels: ANUJ KUMAR RATHI, CHARLES KAFUNDA, CHILUBA, CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 4:04 PM