(TALKZIMBABWE, AFP) Chiluba US$0.5m trial cost US$13m: Banda

Chiluba US$0.5m trial cost US$13m: Banda
AFP.
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:01:00 +0000

ZAMBIA spent US$13 million on prosecuting ex-leader Frederick Chiluba for allegedly embezzling US$500 000 of public funds, President Rupiah Banda said on state radio yesterday.

Banda, speaking at a rally in remarks broadcast on radio, said that lawyers were paid US$13 million by the now-disbanded task force created to prosecute Chiluba in a case that ended with an acquittal in August.

“The lawyers prosecuting Mr Chiluba received close to US$13 million in payment to prosecute this case,” Banda said.

“The case they had against him, they charged him for US$500 000. Only half a million dollars they said he had stolen, but for that we have paid them over US$13 million,” he said

“Just imagine what we would have done with this US$13 million in terms of the things we are discussing here, like schools, medicines in hospitals,” Banda said.

Chiluba was acquitted on charges of misappropriating half a million dollars in public resources as he developed a taste for made-to-measure shoes and suits during his 1991-2001 presidency.

The former president still faces legal action in a separate matter stemming from a graft conviction in Britain, where a court in 2007 found him and former aides guilty of stealing nearly US$50 million of state funds.

In the London case, Chiluba and others were found guilty of defrauding the Zambian government, and the court ruled that he should be denied access to his pension at Barclays Bank.

Zambia’s government last year began efforts to register the judgment locally, which would allow authorities to seize his assets to recover the money. Chiluba has argued that the British court ruling should not apply here. — AFP.