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Sata committed no crime over that K1.2bn – Chongwe

Sata committed no crime over that K1.2bn – Chongwe
By George Chellah
Tue 02 Mar. 2010, 06:50 CAT

LUSAKA lawyer Rodger Chongwe yesterday said Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata committed no crime in the matter that was investigated against him by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 1992.

ACC director general Godfrey Kayukwa was last week quoted in the state-controlled Times of Zambia as confirming that when Sata served as local government and housing minister in 1992, he allegedly directed his officers to place K1.2 billion government funds into a special 45 days investment account at Standard Chartered Bank contrary to financial regulation number 10 of 1992.

But Dr Chongwe, who was justice minister at that time, said yesterday that Sata had only made a technical error.

“Government always deposits its money into the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) and Sata had done that because he wanted that money to earn interest for the ministry,” Dr Chongwe said. “And when it was discovered, the money wasn't even there up to one month when it was discovered.

The government told Sata that the money should be returned, so the bank returned the money to the Bank of Zambia.”

Dr Chongwe said the ACC through its chief investigator at that time investigated the matter.

“At that time the late justice Robert Kapembwa was the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Ali Hamir was the Attorney General and I was the Minister of Justice. The matter, after investigations, it was reported to the Attorney General.

And the Attorney General looked at the matter. In the first place, there was no gain accrued to Mr Sata,” Dr Chongwe explained. “The interest which was earned by the money for those few days was in favour of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and so it was regarded as a technical error and no criminal act had been committed by Mr Sata.”

Dr Chongwe said he was even surprised that 18 years later, the matter is coming up.

“And who is it that has actually alleged that in fact there was corruption? I knew about the matter, the Attorney General knew about the matter and we recommended that there is no case here for prosecution,” Dr Chongwe said.

“And what is the government now… Has home affairs minister Mr Lameck Mangani brought new evidence or has the ACC brought new evidence that there was corruption in the technical error made by the minister in 1992? And why was the minister allowed to keep his job from 1992 until when he left government in 2001?

“That's all I can say because I was the Minister of Justice. No crime was committed by Michael Sata. That's why nothing was done. But if people want to do that, it is very likely that at the end of the day they might pay money for mischievous prosecution.”

Last week, Kayukwa acknowledged that ACC investigated Sata for financial misconduct involving K1.2 billion when he served as local government minister.

"I wish to confirm that the case of suspected corruption and abuse of office by Mr Sata was thoroughly investigated by the ACC in 1992 and forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for consent to prosecute, which was not given. Therefore, the matter was closed in 1993," said Kayukwa.

Labels: ACC, ROGER CHONGWE, SATA

posted by MrK @ 6:58 PM