Maravi

Rupiah’s lies have been exposed - Mpombo

Rupiah’s lies have been exposed - Mpombo
By George Chellah
Sat 06 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT

GEORGE Mpombo yesterday said UK lawyer Bimal Tha-ker’s loss of practising licence over his corrupt conduct with Frederick Chilu-ba has exposed Pre-sident Rupiah Ban-da’s faulty judgment and lies. And Mpombo said the decision to remove Thaker from the roll of solicitors in the UK has curtailed Chiluba’s celebrations and claim of innocence.

Commenting on the findings and decision of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal over Chiluba’s UK lawyer, whose licence has been revoked because of his conduct with the former president, Mpombo, who is also Kafulafuta MMD member of parliament, said the Tribunal’s outcome has embarrassed President Banda.

“This landmark decision has shown that Mr Banda is a pathological liar. It exposes his faulty judgment because they have been protecting Mr Chiluba. It shouldn’t have taken the people in the UK to show us that we are doing things the wrong way as far as the fight against corruption is concerned. It’s really a shame,” Mpombo said. “It’s a victory to the fight against corruption and it is an indication that whatever is covered will be uncovered one day regardless of who is doing it. Just look at how people are being exposed even before the dust on the acquittal settles.”

He said President Banda should be feeling very ashamed due to the turn of events.

“Mr Banda’s conduct is on the verge of ridiculous given this kind of radical decision by the Tribunal in the UK who have clearly said that Mr Chiluba’s lawyer brought the reputation of the legal profession in the UK into disrepute. This also vindicates late president Levy Mwanawasa that he had no axe to grind with anyone when he embarked on the fight against corruption,” Mpombo said. “Although some of Mwanawasa’s colleagues he started the fight with like Vice-President George Kunda had turned into Judas Iscariots. It will be interesting to know what those who were accusing Mwanawasa of victimising Chiluba will say now. Are they going to be naïve and argue that even in his death Mwanawasa is still victimising Chiluba by influencing decisions of the Tribunal in the UK? This is a totally independent Tribunal, which sat in a place far away from Zambia, so what do they have to say now?”

He said President Banda and his colleagues are turning the clock backwards in terms of the fight against corruption.

“The landmark decision by the Tribunal is a clear indication that Mr Chiluba is not innocent, he is not standing on firm ground. Mr Chiluba is not totally free because if he is innocent, how come people continue to pay for his misdeeds?” Mpombo asked. “The Tribunal’s decision has curtailed Mr Chiluba’s celebrations and claim of innocence. It has cut short Mr Chiluba and Mr Banda’s celebrations. Their celebrations have been shredded into pieces.”

He said the Tribunal’s findings have thwarted President Banda’s manoeuvres.

“All those adverts they are showing amount to cheap political shenanigans. The findings are a slap in the face. It has revealed how we are viewed as a country on the international scene,” he said.

He said President Banda and Chiluba should apologise for feeding Zambians on a diet of cheap political concotions.

“This is actually food for thought especially for those who have been protecting Mr Chiluba. People should be able to stand on firm ground in terms of justice. The only way out of these problems is to vote out Mr Banda since people now know his true colours following what has been happening in his two years ‘accidental’ term,” Mpombo said. “This kind of leadership should never be allowed in this country ever again. People like Mr Banda who are puffed up with cheap pride should never be near this country’s leadership again. Therefore, Zambians must register as voters in huge numbers so that they can vote Mr Banda out of office next year.”

Thaker's practising licence was revoked because of his conduct with the former president, which has been described as ‘spectacularly stupid’.

This is according to the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal findings and decision dated July 15, 2010, filed with the Law Society in the UK.

The allegations which have since been proven and action taken, were that Thaker abused his integrity through dealings involving the payments of money belonging to the Zambian treasury to Chiluba and his children, former Zambia Security Intelligence Services director general Xavier Chungu’s children and Ireen Kabwe, wife of former Access Financial Services Limited’s Faustin Kabwe, among other transactions.

Thaker met Chiluba in London and had been asked by him for a cash payment of 30,000 pounds.

It was further observed that Thaker’s involvement in the payments “had clearly not been in any way connected with any legal work but had been consistent with the provision of banking facilities in transactions that bore the hallmarks of money laundering.”

David Barton, who was acting on behalf of the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, was the applicant and Bimal Bhupendra Thaker of Cave Malik was the respondent in the matter.

Labels: BIMAL THAKER, FREDERICK CHILUBA, GEORGE MPOMBO, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 1:18 AM