PF presses DEC to probe Chiluba
By George Chellah
Tue 16 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT
PF has given the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) a 14-day ultimatum to institute investigations against Frederick Chiluba for money laundering or face legal proceedings in the High Court.
In a letter to the DEC Commissioner dated November 15, 2010, PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba stated that the allegations of money laundering against Chiluba were an appropriate case for investigation and consequent prosecution.
RING AGAINST MR FREDERICK T.J CHILUBA. I refer to the above quoted matter. Please find herewith enclosed a copy of the findings and decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal dated 21st July 2010 in the matter involving Mr. Bimal Bhupendra Thaker as respondent and solicitor for Mr. Chiluba in London,” read the letter in part. “I would like to draw your attention in particular to the particulars under allegation number 3 on page 2 and the findings thereof by the Tribunal on page 12. The respondent Mr. Thaker has been struck off the solicitors’ roll in England because according to one of the particulars of the allegations he ‘failed to investigate or to adequately consider the possibility that his firm had been utilised to facilitate money laundering or other illegal activity’ by his client Mr. Chiluba.
“It is my considered view that under Section 5 and 6 of the Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 14 of 2001, this is a case appropriate for investigation and consequently prosecution in the interest of the Republic of Zambia and its people. Accordingly, unless we hear from you that investigations have been instituted in this matter within 14 days from the date hereof, we shall, as Patriotic Front, commence legal proceedings for an order of Mandamus in the High Court to order you to commence such proceedings.”
Recently, Thaker's practicing licence was revoked because of his conduct with former president Chiluba, which has been described as 'spectacularly stupid'.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 did abuse his integrity through dealings involving the payments of monies belonging to the Zambian treasury to Chiluba and his children, former Zambia Security Intelligence Services director general Xavier Chungu’s Children, Ireen Kabwe, wife of former Access Financial Services Limited’s Fautin 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, COURTS, DEC, FREDERICK CHILUBA, PF
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Chiluba has destroyed many professional careers
By The Post
Sat 06 Nov. 2010, 03:59 CAT
Frederick Chiluba’s corruption has destroyed the professional careers of so many people at home and abroad. Since Chiluba’s highly questionable acquittal by magistrate Jones Chinyama on theft charges and the corrupt withdrawal of the appeal against his acquittal, he has been trying to posture that he is innocent of corruption and other abuses.
From what has happened to his solicitor in the United Kingdom, Bimal Bhupendra Thaker, it is clear that Chiluba and his tandem of thieves are guilty of more crimes than they were ever prosecuted for here. Anyway, this is why we called Chiluba a thief and continue to call him a thief. We paid a very high price for exposing Chiluba’s crimes. As president of the Republic, he unleashed the full might of the state machinery to crush us.
Instead of pursuing the thief, the police pursued us like we were common criminals. Workers at the residence of the editor of this newspaper were physically molested and live rounds of ammunition fired at the gate to gain entrance to his property.
This is how vicious Chiluba was when we revealed to the nation that the chap who was occupying the highest public office in our country was nothing but a common and shameless criminal. Chiluba had us prosecuted, alleging that we had criminally defamed him. To cut the long story short, we were vindicated when we managed to show that Chiluba, in fact, is a thief.
In the intervening years, Chiluba has used all sorts of political tricks to try and hoodwink our people into believing that his prosecution for corruption and other abuses of public office were nothing but political witch-hunt by his enemies, in this case, Levy Mwanawasa and ourselves, among others.
In Rupiah Banda, Chiluba has found a willing ally prepared to defend his crimes and to protect him from facing the temerity of his corrupt actions. It cannot be denied that Rupiah has gone out of his way to try and rehabilitate Chiluba’s tattered image in the hope that he will help him secure a second term of office. To Rupiah, Chiluba is a political engineer whose skills will help him to hold on to power. To Chiluba, Rupiah is a saviour who has to remain in power.
If Rupiah is not in power, Chiluba knows that he is finished. This is why Chiluba has continued to do everything that he can to demonstrate his usefulness to Rupiah. There is no doubt that Chiluba is doing everything he can to ensure that Rupiah returns as president after next year’s election. And Chiluba has been telling friends that he will not sit idle and watch his life being endangered by Rupiah’s electoral defeat; he will do everything possible to ensure that his saviour retains power next year and continues to save him.
The case of Chiluba’s lawyer in London is an important demonstration of the crimes that Chiluba and his league were involved in. One of the criminal actions that has caused Thaker to lose his licence is the activities that he engaged in in November 2001. On July 10, 2001 and November 6 the same year, US $199,995 and US$399, 995, respectively from the Zambia Intelligence Services were sent to Thaker’s law firm in London.
On November 7, 2001, Chiluba called Thaker to ask him if Faustin Kabwe had called him to instruct him to give him some money. Thaker confirmed with Kabwe and withdrew 30,000 British pounds cash, which he gave to Chiluba. The law society in England found this conduct to be “spectacularly stupid” and a breach of the money laundering regulations that govern lawyers in the UK.
Thaker was also found guilty of facilitating the criminal movement of funds amongst Chiluba’s league, including Access Financial Services Limited and its directors that Chiluba used to steal Zambian government funds. There can be no doubt once somebody reads the findings of the solicitor’s disciplinary tribunal that Chiluba, as far as they were concerned, was engaged in criminal activity that should not have been facilitated by a lawyer, a solicitor.
And because Thaker flouted his professional regulations in furtherance of Chiluba’s criminal schemes, today this poor chap is without a lawyer’s practicing licence, his professional career has come to an end – Chiluba’s corruption has ended it. Thaker joins the long list of casualties of Chiluba’s corrupt presidency.
There is a lesson for those that surround Chiluba. One of the reasons that Thaker has been so severely dealt with is because the tribunal of his peers found that his conduct was not innocent. He was dealing with Chiluba in highly suspicious transactions at a time when it had become known to the whole world that Chiluba was a thief or was at least linked to very serious allegations of theft. But Thaker chose to ignore all that and continued to pay for Chiluba's children’s cars, Xavier Chungu’s children’s school fees, Faustin’s private expenses.
He also did the same for Francis Kaunda. The tribunal did not look very kindly on Thaker. His pleas of innocence could not be believed by anyone. This is the lesson that those who today are trying to help Chiluba to keep the loot that he plundered from our people should learn. A man who thought he could hide behind just being a lawyer has found himself drawn in deeper than he could have wished for.
Today Thaker is being suffocated by the same blanket – the blanket of a solicitor – that he thought could cover him or shield him from accountability for his complicity in the thefts of Chiluba. The legal profession that he thought he could abuse to commit crimes has done him in to protect itself.
We have no doubt that Thaker is not the last victim of Chiluba’s corruption. There are many more to come. There are those who are still trying to launder Chiluba’s stolen assets because of the protection that Rupiah is giving him. They too will face a day of reckoning.
Chiluba did not steal from an individual; he stole from our people, the poorest of the poor. Justice may be long in coming but we have no doubt it will come. Chiluba may think he has gotten away because of his friendship with Rupiah, but let him think again. Tomorrow, Chiluba will wake up to find there is no Rupiah to run to because he is on the run also. The blanket that Chiluba is trying to use to shield himself from accountability will not always be there to cover him.
Even his protector Rupiah will one day not only be unable to protect Chiluba but also himself. And that day is near. This is why the only protection someone can have is always doing the right thing – whatever the consequences.
What has happened to Thaker should also serve as a warning to those who today surround Rupiah. The allure of power is such that those who possess it think that they will always have it. This causes people to fall into a pattern of carelessness and recklessness because they control the system, they make the rules and enforce them. We have seen this in the current debate that is going on regarding the Anti Corruption Commission Act.
Rupiah and his minions know that they are up to no good. They know that soon they will be in trouble for the wrong things they have been doing. Their hold on power is fooling them into believing that they can avoid accountability forever by simply removing some inconvenient law or other. We have no doubt that Rupiah has no shortage of legal and other advisors who are telling him that this is the best thing to do. And because of the problems that he has, he is prepared to believe them. But wrong things being what they are, Rupiah and his friends can run but they won’t be able to hide forever.
Those who work for Rupiah should learn from Thaker. He, like other hangers-on that surrounded Chiluba, thought that he could get away from responsibility for the crimes they were committing because he was working for a president, a very powerful man controlling everything and everyone. But where has that left him today? We have no doubt that Thaker made a lot of money through his dealings with Chiluba, Xavier, Faustin and other crooks of the Chiluba tandem. But where will that money take him?
Labels: BIMAL THAKER, FREDERICK CHILUBA
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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
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UK solicitor loses licence over Chiluba’s corruption
By George Chellah
Fri 05 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT
FREDERICK Chiluba's UK lawyer Bimal Thaker's practising licence has been 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.
The allegations against the respondent were that he had withdrawn sums from client account in circumstances other than those permitted by Rule 22 of the Solicitors' Accounts Rules 1998 (SAR) and thereby had created a cash shortage.
He was also alleged to have failed to remedy the breaches promptly upon discovery contrary to Rule 7 of the SAR and that he had contrary to the provisions of Rule 1 of the Solicitors' Practice Rules 1990 (SPR) compromised or impaired, or had been likely so to do, either or both of (i) his independence or integrity and (ii) his good repute or that of the solicitors' profession.
“The particulars of allegation 3 were that he had;
3.1 permitted money to pass into and out of his client account when there had been no underlying legal transaction or the provision of legal services and where he had been acting merely as a conduit to receive and pass on or return monies to clients or to third parties. In so doing it was alleged that he had been grossly reckless.
3.2 failed to be alert to the very substantial sums of money passing through client account and to the circumstances relating to their receipt and disbursement, which should have put him on inquiry as to their authenticity or legitimacy. In so doing it was alleged that he had been grossly reckless.
3.3 failed to investigate or to adequately consider the possibility that his firm had been utilised to facilitate money-laundering or other illegal activity. In so doing it was alleged that he had been grossly reckless," they stated.
“3.4 failed to have any or any proper regard to the warnings issued to the solicitors' profession by the Law Society on money-laundering, in particular the 'Blue Card' warning first issued to the profession in April 1994 and revised in February 1999. Those had been circulated to all solicitors holding practicing certificates in February 1995 and again on 26th/27th July 2000. In so doing it was alleged that he had been grossly reckless.
3.5 on the 13th November 2001, paid to Dr Chiluba, who had not been a client, cash in the sum of 30,000 pounds that he had withdrawn from his client account. That money had represented part of a payment sent to him from the Office of the President of Zambia and had been Zambian money. The respondent had withdrawn it and paid it on the instructions of Faustin Kabwe of Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL/ACCESS). In so doing it was alleged that the respondent had been dishonest but if not dishonest that he had been grossly reckless.
3.6 after about 5th June 2002, when he had known of the 'Matrix of Plunder' allegations in the Zambian press, he had disbursed money to Irene Kabwe, to the children of Dr Chiluba and to the children of Xavier Franklin Chungu that had belonged to the Zambian Treasury. In so doing it was alleged that the respondent had been dishonest but if not dishonest that he had been grossly reckless.”
It was further alleged that contrary to note (ix) to Rule 15 of the SAR, the respondent failed to exercise caution when he had been asked to provide banking facilities through his client account.
But in its findings as to fact and law, the Tribunal stated that the applicant submitted that the respondent had severely damaged the reputation of the solicitors' profession by his involvement in financial transactions that had borne the hallmarks of money laundering and that the situation had received widespread publicity and widespread condemnation, particularly in Zambia.
The Tribunal stated that in his submissions the applicant said that the respondent had seriously compromised his independence and his integrity when dealing with AFSL and with others.
“The Tribunal was also satisfied that the respondent had been aware, from at least August 2001, that Dr Chiluba had been implicated in allegations of theft and from at least June 2002, following the 'Matrix of Plunder' article in the Zambian press that extensive and serious allegations had been made against AFSL and various individuals connected with it. Despite this knowledge, the respondent had continued to disburse monies, as instructed, with no regard whatsoever to the money laundering warning and requirements," they stated.
"In these circumstances, the Tribunal found that the respondent had been grossly reckless. In clarification, the Tribunal was not making any findings as to the sources of the money passing through the respondent's client account. It was aware of the tracing evidence in the agreed expert's report. However, the Tribunal found that after June 2002, at the very latest, the respondent could not have been sure that, as a solicitor, discharging his responsibilities properly, he knew the source and provenance of the monies coming into his client account. The Tribunal found as a fact that the respondent had been grossly reckless because he had carried on accepting monies and making payments, as instructed by his clients, regardless of the allegations and in continuing contravention of all the safe-guards of the money laundering requirements.”
The Tribunal stated that they did not find the respondent a convincing witness in that many of his answers had been evasive and his evidence often inconsistent.
“Having considered all the evidence and the submissions of the parties, the Tribunal found the matters in relation to the payment to Dr Chiluba proved to the higher standard. At the very least the Tribunal was satisfied that the respondent had been grossly reckless, but in addition the Tribunal was satisfied that in making a payment of 30,000 pounds in cash to Dr Chiluba, without any regard to the requirements of the Law Society's guidance on the avoidance of money laundering or without making any enquiries so as to ensure that he had a full understanding of the nature of the payment, such as to satisfy himself that the payment was in fact lawful, the respondent was both dishonest by the standards of reasonable and honest people and further that he himself had realised that by those standards his conduct had been dishonest,” they stated.
“Turning to the payments to Irene Kabwe, the Chiluba children and the Chungu children as identified in the Forensic Investigation Report; payments of credit card bills, travel expenses, payments in connection with educational establishments and motor vehicles, the applicant had submitted that not only had the respondent been, in his own submission, 'spectacularly stupid' in making such payments, but that they had been made when the respondent had been on notice of the allegations in Zambia. Moreover, he had submitted that such payments had clearly not been in any way connected with any legal work but had been consistent with the provision of banking facilities.”
The Tribunal stated that having considered all evidence and the submissions of the parties, they found the matters in relation to the payments of money to Irene Kabwe, to the children of Chiluba and to the children of Chungu that had belonged to the Zambian Treasury, proved to the higher standard.
In mitigation, the counsel for the respondent stressed that his client had been a relatively young solicitor with no previous disciplinary issues when the events in question had taken place.
But the Tribunal ruled that it had found all of the allegations proved on the evidence presented to it.
“It stressed that allegations 3 and 4 were of an extremely serious nature. The Tribunal was extremely concerned about the damage to the reputation of the profession caused by the actions of the respondent in failing to comply with money laundering guidance, particularly given the consequences of that failure. The respondent, as a solicitor, had been involved in widespread publicity and condemnation,” they stated.
“He had compromised his independence and integrity. The Tribunal took into account the basic propositions in relation to the conduct of solicitors set out in Bolton v The Law Society 1194 1WLR 512. Most particularly, the Tribunal noted that maintaining the profession's reputation involved its members being able to be 'trusted to the ends of the earth.' The Tribunal concluded that the respondent had severely damaged the reputation of the profession and his own reputation and in all the circumstances should not be allowed to practice. Accordingly he would be struck off the Roll of Solicitors.
“The Tribunal ordered that the respondent Bimal Bhupendra Thaker of Suite 11, St Loyes House, 20 St Loyes Street, Bedford, MK40 1ZL, solicitor, be STRUCK OFF the Roll of Solicitors and they further ordered that he do pay 90 per cent of all costs of and incidental to this application and enquiry including the reserved costs to be subject to a detailed assessment unless agreed between the parties to include the costs of the Investigation Accountant of the Law Society. An interim payment of 20,000 pounds to be made within 28 days of today's date.”
Labels: BIMAL THAKER, CORRUPTION, COURTS, FREDERICK CHILUBA, IRENE KABWE, XAVIER CHUNGU
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