Kabwe explains how he acquired ZSIS properties
By Noel Sichalwe
Friday July 04, 2008 [04:00]
FORMER Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) chief executive officer Faustin Kabwe yesterday explained how he acquired about seven properties on behalf of Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS). This is a matter where former president Frederick Chiluba is separately charged with AFSL directors Kabwe and Aaron Chungu.
Chiluba is charged with theft of about US$488,000. Kabwe told Ndola High Court deputy registrar Jones Chinyama, who is sitting as trial magistrate in Lusaka, that former ZSIS director general Xavier Chungu had instructed him to purchase the property named as 26F Cheetah Road, Kabulonga and Mulungushi Service Club in Chamba Valley.
Other properties that he identified included that of plot number 5614, Lufubu Road in Kalundu, which was previously owned by Finance Bank.
Kabwe said Xavier Chungu further instructed him to purchase DGH Poly Products Limited from Poly Packers at the cost of about K800 million.
Kabwe said Xavier Chungu also instructed AFSL to purchase Avalon Motors, which was later renamed as Motor City at the cost of about K1 billion.
He further named two properties, one in Makeni and another in Lilayi that they purchased on behalf of ZSIS.
He said the money for the purchase of the properties from AFSL accounts and some of the properties were registered under Lusaka Trust Corporate Services, a company he owned together with Aaron Chungu.
Kabwe said during the transactions, he was dealing with ZSIS director general Xavier Chungu his deputy JK Lungu, another senior officer Yotamu Zulu and another officer named Mandona.
However, Kabwe said ZSIS also dealt with other officers of AFSL without his direct involvement.
Trial continues today.
Labels: CORRUPTION, COURTS, FAUSTIN KABWE, ZSIS
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Biti faces 2 new charges
By George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Wednesday June 18, 2008 [04:00]
OPPOSITION MDC secretary general Tendai Biti who is currently in detention for treason has been slapped with two fresh charges. According to the state media, Biti, who was arrested on Thursday last week at Harare International Airport for alleged treason and issuing statements prejudicial to the state, was charged with causing disaffection among the defence forces and insulting the President.
Biti's lawyer, Lewis Uriri confirmed that his client was further charged and that the fresh charges arise from the same document 'The Transition Strategy' that was purported to have been authored by Biti.
"They are now alleging that in the document Biti threatened to fire all serving members of the army and to impose a rigorous screening exercise when they reapplied, which was believed to be causing disaffection among the soldiers. It is also now being alleged that Biti in the said document, referred to the President as an "evil man"," Uriri said.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on Monday searched Biti's residence and his laptop computer.
According to Biti's defence team the police searched his home and also spent about three hours browsing through his personal laptop.
However, Biti has not been formally charged.
Labels: COURTS, TENDAI BITI, TREASON
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Yusuf Badat testifies in Katele's corruption case
By Noel Sichalwe
Wednesday June 11, 2008 [04:00]
FORMER deputy works and supply minister Dr Yusuf Badat yesterday said the contract that was signed to erect a steel fence at the Lusaka High Court and Supreme Court was irregular. This is a matter where MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba is jointly charged with former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda, former secretaries to the Treasury Professor Benjamin Mweene and Boniface Nonde, and former chief economist Bede Mpande.
Others are former Access Finance Services Limited directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu. The eight are charged with corruption.
Badat, 48 recalled that when he was deputy minister, his officials told him that there were construction works going on at High Court and Supreme Court premises.
He said the officials told him that the construction works had no blessings of the Ministry of Works and Supply.
He said he then rang the Judiciary and talked to then chief administrator Philip Musonda who is now High Court judge.
Badat said he inquired about the procedure used to erect the fence as to whether funding was provided for in the yellow book, the plans were drawn by the ministry, tender procedures were followed and which ministry officials were supervising the works.
He said Musonda only told him that it was a special project but that he personally insisted his ministry was the custodian of all government properties in Zambia.
Badat said he informed Musonda that he had inspected construction works at Nkwazi House and Government House but that Musonda still refused to tell him the nature of the project.
He said he was emotional and disappointed at the conduct of Judiciary officials who were supposed to be the beacon of dispensing justice and yet, they were conducting projects without the blessings of his ministry.
Badat said he then informed his then minister Godden Mandandi who promised to investigate the matter.
He said construction works continued but that there was a danger to motorists, especially on curves.
Badat said he only came to learn about the background of the project in 2006 when the matter was in the media.
In cross-examination by lawyer Nicholas Chanda, Badat said the construction of the fence was irregular because his ministry was not involved.
“Procedurally, legally and morally, it was not correct,” he said. “This was a defective arrangement because it did not involve the Ministry of Works and Supply.”
He said the issue of the Office of the President having engaged the contractors was never brought to his attention.
Answering more questions from Professor Patrick Mvunga, Badat said he did not know anything about the contract to construct a fence and had no knowledge of any corruption in the contract.
In re-examination by Mutembo Nchito, Badat said the contract was never signed by the Office of the President as a party. He said the Ministry of Works and Supply was involved in planning, monitoring and evaluation of the contracts and that the contract regarding the fence at the High Court was highly defective.
And Bank of Zambia senior supervisor for non-banking institutions Joseph Munyoro narrated how he inspected Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) and Access Leasing Company (ALC) to establish whether they conducted their business in compliance with the Banking and Financial Services Act.
Munyoro said after the inspection, he concluded that AFSL and ALC did not comply with the Act and that their financial records did not have sufficient details to enable the Bank of Zambia understand their transactions.
Trial continues tomorrow.
Labels: COURTS, KATELE KALUMBA, YUSUF BADAT
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Kabwe testifies on ZSIS investments
The Post
Saturday May 31, 2008
Kabwe testifies on ZSIS investments
Friday May 30, 2008 [04:00]
Continued from yesterday
Kabwe: We had several clients dealing with us in this similar manner.
The court will recall my reference to a similar arrangement in respect of DG Travel matter that we handled on behalf of another client totally unrelated to the Zambia Security Intelligence Service. Your Honour, even in that instance, we did not ask the client concerned where these funds were coming from and generally, Your Honour, unless you have concerns about the client or suspect what the client maybe doing, financial institutions and banks could not normally make it their business to ask clients where their money is coming from.
In the particular case, Your Honour, of Mr Chungu and the Zambia Security Intelligence Service, we had no reason whatsoever to doubt his credibility occupying the high position in government that he did. Your Honour, it would have been most unlikely that he would have told us anything anyway because when he first approached me, he did make it quite clear that his operations were very private and that me or Access Financial Services Limited could not be privy to unnecessary details about his work.
Sangwa: Now, when did you actually come to know that Zamtrop account was actually an account for Zambia Security Intelligence Service?
Kabwe: Your Honour, this matter started to come to light through newspaper articles, particularly at the time when there was a court case involving the former president of Zambia, Dr Chiluba and The Post Newspaper and some other individuals. Your Honour, as a result of those proceedings, a number of disclosures were made including the identity of the so called Zamtrop account as an account belonging to the Zambia Security Intelligence Service and operated from the London branch of Zambia National Commercial Bank. That is when I recall coming across this Zamtrop name and what it meant.
Sangwa: What kind of services did Mr Chungu request and received from Access?
Kabwe: Your Honour, what Mr Chungu told me was essentially that his service could require establishing investment ventures that could augment the funding support that government was providing and which sometimes was not always adequate.
He wanted Access Financial Services Limited to help him with managing such investment as and when they were identified and to put together the appropriate structures to ensure these investments were managed confidentially.
Sangwa: Where were these investments to be made?
Kabwe: What Mr Chungu told me was that investments would be local.
Sangwa: What kind of investments were made, with regard to local investments?
Kabwe: Your honour, I have already alluded to the issue of Avalon Motors whose assets were converted to Motor City.
Sangwa: Could you tell the court the background to this particular investment?
Kabwe: Your Honour, what I was told by Mr Chungu was that the Zambia Security Intelligence Service was interested in acquiring a business in the motor industry for use by themselves and as a profit making venture.
Your Honour, Mr Chungu and his organisation had identified these investments themselves when newspaper advertisements appeared to the effect that Avalon Motors Limited had been placed in receivership and that the receiver was selling the assets of the company.
Hence Your Honour, Access Financial Services Limited was retained by the Zambia Security Intelligence Service to negotiate the acquisition of Avalon assets on the client’s behalf which is what we did Your Honour and succeeded to put the assets into a new operating entity by the name of Motor City which the client himself had suggested.
Sangwa: What is the status of this company?
Kabwe: I know very little about the status now except that it is one of the assets taken over either by the Task Force or Zambia Security Intelligence Service.
Sangwa: Is this company in existence or it has been liquidated?
Kabwe: I don't know. It is now over six years since I had anything to do with this matter.
Sangwa: Mr. Chungu was DG in Zambia and based in Zambia and the assets he acquired in Zambia. Why is it that the money to pay for the assets he acquired came from abroad?
Kabwe: Your Honour, our only concern was to make sure that our clients funded us for whatever project he wanted us to undertake on his behalf. Your Honour, whether the client, in this case Mr. Chungu, gives us money from abroad or from anywhere in Zambia, it was not our concern. Mr Chungu told me that to fund a particular transaction we were talking about, he would rely on resources he had mobilised from outside Zambia.
It was for that reason Your Honour that I explained to him the route through which he could remit those resources to Access Financial Services Limited which, Your Honour, as I said before was applicable to every other client of ours who wanted to send funds to do their business in Zambia.
Therefore, Your Honour, for us this was an ordinary straight forward matter which complied with the operating system we had already established not for Zambia Security Intelligence Service but for all clients of Access Financial Services Limited whose resources were coming to us from outside Zambia.
There was nothing special about this as far as Access Financial Services was concerned. Our only and simple requirement that we be funded for what we were being asked to perform. How the client, Your Honour, organised his funding was entirely his business and this, Your Honour, is ordinary practice with any other financial institution.
Sangwa: There has been a name of a company that has been frequently talked about by the name of Zamdael, what exactly did you know about this company?
Kabwe: Your Honour, another investment which Mr Chungu wanted to acquire for his organisation was some farm land and housing structures belonging to a company called Zamdael Limited.
Your Honour, as Access Financial Services, we came to learn that this company and this property belonged to a Mr Dale who had wanted to establish a block manufacturing plant at a site in the Kanakantapa area of Lusaka. The property, Your Honour, was partially developed with some housing structures as I indicated earlier and Mr Dale was about to commence business when he was attacked by robbers and therefore, decided to abandon the project and return to Kenya I understand.
Your Honour, Mr Dale after this unfortunate incident decided to appoint an agent to dispose off his investment in Zambia. Your Honour, that agent was called Mr Murray Dewar. It was, Your Honour, Mr Dewar that interested Mr Chungu in the Kanakantapa property belong to Zamdael...
To be continued
Labels: ACCESS FINANCIAL SERVICES, COURTS, ZAMTROP, ZSIS
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Court denies Chiluba access to OP Charter
By Noel Sichalwe
Friday May 30, 2008 [04:00]
Lusaka High Court judge Japhet Banda yesterday said President Mwanawasa's refusal to authorise the release of the 1970 Financial Charter in the London judgment registration case is legal. And judge Banda has stayed proceedings in a case in which former president Frederick Chiluba and others are challenging the registration of the London judgment, which found them guilty of defrauding Zambia of millions of US dollars. This is a matter in which former Access Financial Services directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu have appealed against the London High Court judgment.
Kabwe, Chungu, Chiluba and former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance Stella Chibanda, among other Zambian defendants, are contesting the registration of the London High Court judgment of May 4, 2007 pursuant to rule 11 of the Foreign Judgment Enforcement Rules.
The quartet is represented by lawyers John Sangwa, Robert Simeza, Bonaventure Mutale and Edgar Lungu while the state is represented by Attorney General Mumba Malila and Solicitor General Dominic Sichinga.
Earlier, Sangwa raised a preliminary issue asking the court whether proceeding with hearing of the matter in the absence of the 1970 Finance Charter would be consistent with the provisions of Article 18(9) of the Constitution.
Sangwa argued that if the preliminary issue would not be determined now, the final judgment would erode the essence of the application.
Passing the ruling, judge Banda said he had considered the current application in the light of President Mwanawasa's refusal to authorise the Financial Charter on February 29, 2008.
Judge Banda said President Mwanawasa's refusal to release the Charter was done pursuant to the law under which he was asked to act in accordance with the Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) Act.
"The President was allowed, under the provision of the law, not to authorise production of the Financial Charter. Any law including the Zambia Security Intelligence Service Act is made pursuant to and must comply with the Constitution. The Zambia Security Intelligence Service Act has not been nullified or attacked in any ways nor has it been struck out. It is therefore, legal and constitutional," he said.
"The respondents are trying through the backdoor to assail attack and make illegal the President's powers to refuse production of the Financial Charter in this matter. This court cannot accept that. As the law stands, the President acted within the law to refuse that Financial Charter be produced. Any law in Zambia is made pursuant and must be in compliance with the Constitution."
He said the most important thing was that all parties in the London matter where the Financial Charter was produced were given an opportunity to see it, cross-examine any witness who produced it and use it.
Judge Banda said the court was only dealing with the registration of the London judgment and urged the parties to confine themselves to what was being dealt with.
"The court will not allow itself to open a case or rehear it as it has no jurisdiction to do so," judge Banda said.
At this stage, Bonaventure Mutale said they have since been instructed to appeal against the ruling to the Supreme Court and stay the matter.
However, Malila objected to staying the matter arguing that those who would like to appeal could do so without staying the matter. However, judge Banda granted leave to appeal and stayed the matter.
Labels: BONAVENTURE MUTALE, CHILUBA, COURTS, JAPHET BANDA, ZAMBIA SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE ACT, ZSIS
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Businessman sues govt
By Laura Mushaukwa
Sunday May 25, 2008 [04:00]
PROPRIETOR of SC General Dealers, Yona Chishimba, has sued government claiming about K 616 million for non-payment of foodstuffs supplied to the Ministry of Health.
Chishimba, who has sued the Attorney General in his capacity as the government’s representative explained in the writ of summons filed in the Lusaka High Court that on various dates he supplied assorted food products to medical institutions in Kasama at the instance of the Ministry of Health.
Chishimba disclosed that the Ministry of Health settled some bills leaving a balance of K 616,667,750. He revealed that the ministry had since admitted its indebtedness to him but had still failed or neglected to pay the outstanding balance.
It is for this reason that he sought the court’s intervention in making the ministry pay the debt.
Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, COURTS, DOMESTIC DEBT, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SC GENERAL DEALERS, YONA CHISHIMBA
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Former minister goes in for fraud
By Inonge Noyoo
Saturday May 24, 2008 [04:00]
LUSAKA magistrate Sharon Newa yesterday sentenced former Northern Province minister Claver Silavwe to 18 months imprisonment on charges of theft, forgery and uttering false documents. This is a matter in which Silavwe, who is also Nakonde MMD member of parliament, was charged with one count of theft by public servant, nine counts of forgery and one count of uttering false documents.
Silavwe was alleged to have stolen K158,360,000 between March 1, 2005 and August 30, 2006 in Kasama while employed as a public servant in the public service. He is, during the same period, alleged to have forged receipts in Lusaka from Northmead HP Lodge receipt number 3481 for the sum of K10 million by purporting that it was genuinely issued by the said lodge when in fact not.
Silavwe is also alleged to have forged a Millennium Lodge receipt number 5133 for the sum of K5 million, a Lusaka Hotel receipt number 1727 for the sum of K9 million, an SGC Investments receipt number 17327 for the sum of K1.7 million, a cash sale receipt number 5461 for the sum of K1.4 million, three receipts from Peach Guesthouse, a receipt from Cha Cha Cha Guest House and a receipt from North Point Lodge.
Magistrate Newa sentenced Silavwe to 18 months on the second count, nine months on the third count, 18 months on the fourth count, six months on the fifth count, nine months on the ninth count, nine months on count 10 and 18 months on count 11, to run concurrently.
However, Silavwe was acquitted on counts one, six and eight.
Delivering judgment, magistrate Newa said it was a fact that Silavwe was a provincial minister and had obtained imprest through the period he served as minister.
She said Silavwe was asked to retire the imprest following a circular from the Secretary to the Cabinet on the retirement of imprest.
On the first count, magistrate Newa found that there was no evidence adduced to show that Silavwe obtained imprest, did not use it for the purpose intended and converted it for his own use.
She said a National Assembly accounts official testified that part of the imprest had already been recovered from his gratuity.
Magistrate Newa said the ingredients for theft in count one was therefore incomplete and the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
On the second count, magistrate Newa said no standard practice was used in the issuance of receipts and no chronological order was followed. She said from the facts of the case, she found that the receipt in question was forged.
Magistrate Newa said though there was no direct evidence to show that Silavwe forged the receipt, the fact that he certified the receipts meant that he was privy to the forgery and as guilty as the person who forged it. She made the same findings in respect of the third, fourth and fifth counts in which he allegedly forged receipts from Northmead HP lodge, Lusaka Hotel and fuel receipts from SGC Investments.
Magistrate Newa said the prosecution had proved its case and found him guilty forthwith.
On the sixth count, magistrate Newa said the prosecution failed to prove its case against Silavwe and acquitted him forthwith.
On the seventh count, magistrate Newa found that the receipts from Cha Cha Cha Guest House were forged and found him guilty.
However, on the eighth count regarding receipts from Peach Guest House, the prosecution failed to prove that the receipts were forged and Silavwe was acquitted.
On the ninth and 10th counts, magistrate Newa found that Silavwe forged the receipts from Peach Guest House and was guilty of uttering the false documents in count 11.
Magistrate Newa said the prosecution had discharged its burden as the receipts were forged.
In mitigation, Silavwe's lawyer Paulman Chungu pleaded with the court to exercise leniency on his client because he was a first offender.
Chungu said records had shown that opportunity still existed to recover the outstanding balance when Silavwe's gratuity was payable. He said Silavwe's conviction was a culmination of conduct in an attempt to reconcile his obviously poor records as he attempted to retire the receipts.
Chungu pleaded that Silavwe was a breadwinner of his household of eight children, all of school-going age.
Passing the sentence, magistrate Newa said forgery was a serious offence and Silavwe being a person who served in a very senior portfolio was expected to lead by example.
Magistrate Newa said Silavwe failed in his duties.
Labels: CLAVER SILAVWE, CORRUPTION, COURTS, SHARON NEWA
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Court declines to cite Nkole for contempt
By Noel Sichalwe
Wednesday May 14, 2008 [04:01]
NDOLA High Court deputy registrar Jones Chinyama yesterday declined to cite Task Force chairman Max Nkole for contempt of court. This follows an application by former president Frederick Chiluba's lawyers Robert Simeza and John Sangwa who applied that Nkole be cited for contempt of court.
The application was made after Nkole had issued a statement on Radio Phoenix Let the people talk programme last Friday that the Task Force was ready to drop charges against Chiluba if he could surrender the money he has stolen.
Chiluba is separately charged with Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu. Chiluba is charged with theft of about US$ 488,000.
Making the application before Chinyama who is trial magistrate in Lusaka on Monday, Simeza said he had raised similar concerns in the past and that the court should now take some appropriate action under section 116 (1)(d) of the Penal Code.
However, responding to the application yesterday, Task Force prosecutor Mutembo Nchito said he had time to review the material surrounding the genesis of the article that led to the application for contempt against Nkole.
Nchito said Nkole was invited to appear before a public discussion forum at Radio Phoenix with Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka and Kabwata member of parliament Given Lubinda.
"My instructions are that the programme did not discuss the matter before you. In fact, it covered quite a wide-range of issues," he said. "Mr Nkole was invited to discuss issues involving settlement that the Task Force has done with the governor of Katanga Province in Congo, Mr Moses Katumbi. He was also challenged on the approach in the Carlington maize transaction, which has been a subject of discussion which unfortunately involves A1 Chiluba. In the context of those discussions, Mr Nkole was asked to state the position on that general principle bearing in mind that they have been discussing many other things among them Carlington where recently A1 was summoned. Turning to the law, this court is not sitting as assessors who might be influenced.
Even assuming that there was contempt which we submit there was not, this court has guided before that unless that contempt is committed in the face of the court, the complainant will have to have recourse to the due process of the law which will allow full investigations."
Nchito said the alleged contempt was a discussion on a radio programme and not before the court. He said it was regrettable that the impression was created that there was an attempt to influence these proceedings.
He however, apoligised for a wrong impression that could have been created.
Passing the ruling, Chinyama said he had considered the application by the defence, read the content of the report and also heard the statement by the prosecutor.
"There is of course no obligation for the prosecution to say things in defence of the contemnor. It is the contemnor who is supposed to defend himself. I have previously guided before in an instance of a similar nature and there was much passionate plea on the part of the defence counsel," he said. "It is not the responsibility of the court to shake its responsibility, but it could be better if the learned counsel prosecute such matter before another court. The best is for the defence to bring motion before the relevant courts to save wasting time and ensure that these proceedings are not disturbed."
And in his defence Kabwe said when Meridian International Bank, his former employer collapsed, he returned to Zambia from New York where he was based.
Kabwe however, expressed surprise at former foreign affairs minister Mundia Sikatana who had claimed that the directors of Meridian Bank had hidden US$90 million in the Bahamas.
Kabwe said these political statements were untrue because Meridian Bank did not hide any money. He said Meridian Bank had serious liquidity problems that led to its collapse.
He said after the collapse of Meridian Bank where he was working, he then decided to form a company, Access Finance Services Limited (AFSL) that could provide financial services to people. He said among the initial shareholders were his wife and a French wealth businessman Jean-Pierre Rosana.
He said he tried to mobilise the initial K250 million as start-up capital after the Bank of Zambia granted him licence to start operating AFSL with his partner Aaron Chungu.
Kabwe said he later started to mobilise more shareholders and that Chungu and Francis Kaunda later became shareholders.
Hearing continues today.
Labels: ACCESS FINANCIAL SERVICES, COURTS, MAX NKOLE, TASK FORCE
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Supreme court upholds apartheid-era lawsuit
Four members of the court recused for apparent conflicts of interest.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court - apparently handcuffed by possible conflicts of interest - has allowed a multibillion-dollar federal lawsuit from South African blacks and others to proceed. The suit claims U.S. and foreign companies should be held liable for helping the former white-led apartheid government.
Four members of the high court were forced to remove themselves from consideration of the cases. Although no reason was given for their recusal, financial disclosure reports show Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito, own stock in several of the companies being sued. Justice Anthony Kennedy's son Gregory is a top manager in investment bank Credit Suisse.
The justices in a brief order Monday said that "because the court lacks a quorum," they let stand a lower court ruling allowing the class-action lawsuit to go forward.
Under federal rules, at least six justices must hear a case that is accepted for review. With four of the nine recused, the high court had no choice but to uphold the lower court ruling.
The lawsuits want nearly three dozen U.S. and foreign companies to pay as much as $400 billion to South African blacks and others who say they suffered under that country's official policy of oppressive separation of the races between 1948 and 1994.
A federal court last October agreed to hear some 10 related lawsuits. The Bush administration argued the appeals court was wrong to accept the "unprecedented and sprawling" claims.
The governments of Britain, Germany, Switzerland, and post-apartheid South Africa filed supporting memos.
The private suits were filed under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which allows foreigners access to American courts when they allege U.S. laws or treaties were violated. The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act - passed in 1986 over President Reagan's veto - banned U.S. companies from establishing new trade and business with South Africa. Other nations had similar laws.
Among the key plaintiffs is Lungisile Ntsebeza, a sociology professor at the University of Cape Town. He was arrested by the white-controlled South African government in 1976, and spent nearly six years in prison for his anti-apartheid activism. He claims he was beaten and tortured while in custody, and later was banished for six years to a remote part of the country.
In his lawsuit, Ntsebeza's lawyers say companies that continued to do business in his homeland provided "resources, such as technology, money and oil, to the South African government," which in turn used them "to further its polices of oppression and persecution of the African majority."
The lawsuits are part of a years-long global effort to hold a range of parties accountable for decades of human rights violations in South Africa.
That nation's current black-majority government opposes the lawsuit, saying it would hurt its ongoing efforts to foster reconciliation and improve the economic security of all its citizens.
The Bush administration, in its brief, said, "Litigation such as this would also interfere with the ability of the U.S. government to employ the full range of foreign policy options when interacting with regimes the United States would like to influence. ... Such policies would be greatly undermined if the corporations that invest or operate in a foreign country are subjected to lawsuits under the ATS."
The Justice Department argued the ATS allows lawsuits only against the South African government, not companies that allegedly "aided and abetted" repressive polices.
The case is American Isuzu Motors Inc. v. Ntsebeza (07-919).
Labels: APARTHEID, COURTS
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Chiluba justifies his silence on maize deal
By Namakau Nalumango and Maluba Jere
Friday May 09, 2008 [04:00]
THE Task Force missed an opportunity to get something from my insight into the Carlington maize deal by slapping me with a warn and caution statement, former president Frederick Chiluba has said. But Task Force on Corruption chairman Maxwell Nkole said Chiluba, as former commander-in-chief, owed Zambians an explanation on the Carlington maize saga.
Speaking through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, Chiluba said he was left with no choice but to invoke his constitutional right to remain silent because had he cooperated, whatever he may have said would have been used against him in court.
"I decided to remain quiet because of the manner of the interrogation. The blame falls on the Task Force. They narrowed their focus and didn't attempt to establish the truth," he said. Chiluba said in law, the warn and caution restricted one from revealing what needed to be disclosed.
Chiluba said he would only explain the Carlington Sales maize deal when the matter is before court.
He said it was wrong for the Task Force on Corruption chairman Max Nkole to say that he evaded questions because he had always cooperated with them and other institutions and cited the times he had been called to present himself at court and at the police station.
"I did not evade the questions. It was wrong for the Task Force to say that I did in the face of a warn and caution statement that they slapped on me," Chiluba said.
But Nkole said former president Frederick Chiluba was still free to come forward and assist investigators to recover the money in the Carlington maize scam involving about US$7.8 million.
However, Nkole expressed happiness with the way investigations in the case were progressing.
"We have made good progress with statements from Bonaventure Mutale and lawyers from Rossenblatt Solicitors UK, Silwamba ," he said. "Mr Chiluba is still free to come forward and assist investigators recover the plundered money."
Nkole recently said Chiluba and his Iranian associate Ari Ben Menashe knew where the US $7.8 million lay.
He also said there was nothing wrong with the Task Force’s attempt to trace and recover Zambian public funds adding that they expected his assistance which Nkole said Chiluba had denied them.
Nkole added that Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi would also be summoned for interviews when the Task Force was ready.
The Task Force is investigating the case of Canadian commodity supplier, Carlington Sales Company, following an agreement with the Republic of Zambia in 1997/98 for the supply of maize to Zambia in the extent of US$24 million.
The government transferred the money in the extent of US$7.8 million towards this contract but not a single bag of maize was ever delivered and a loss of public funds remains incurred.
And when Chiluba was summoned to appear before the Task Force over the maize saga, he was reported to have evaded questions.
Labels: CHILUBA, COURTS, MAIZE, TASK FORCE
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Police detain MMD Chipata secretary
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thursday May 08, 2008 [04:00]
POLICE in Chipata last Tuesday detained district MMD secretary, Samuel Lugomo Phiri, for failing to appear in court for the continuation of his case of obtaining money by false pretences.
Eastern Province deputy police commanding officer Chrispine Mudeene said police detained Phiri on Tuesday afternoon following a bench warrant that was issued by the Chipata magistrates’ court on April 18 this year.
Mudeene said Phiri was expected to appear in court this week for return of the bench warrant where he would explain why he did not show up in court on April 18.
He said at first Phiri was believed to be in Lusaka and that police managed to apprehend him after getting information that the suspect was within the district
Phiri is alleged to have obtained K3.8 million from Sylvia Kangwa Kalunga by falsely pretending to deliver 68 by 50 kilogramme bags of fertiliser last year but he did not honour his promise.
Labels: CORRUPTION, COURTS, MMD
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Court summons OP chief to testify in Chiluba's case
By Inonge Noyoo
Thursday May 08, 2008 [04:00]
THE Lusaka magistrate's court yesterday summoned Zambia Security Intelligence Services (ZSIS) director general Regis Phiri to testify in the matter where former president Frederick Chiluba is alleged to have stolen US $500,000.
Phiri's summoning followed Chiluba's demand that he be summoned to testify and produce the 1970 finance charter during his defence scheduled for next Monday. The finance charter gave guidelines on how the Zamtrop account was to be operated.
This is a case in which Chiluba is jointly charged with former Access Financial Services directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu for six counts of theft involving US $500,000.
The trio is alleged to have stolen the money between 1998 and 1999.
According to summons to a witness filed in the criminal registry of the subordinate court, Phiri has been summoned to appear before Ndola High Court Deputy Registrar, Jones Chinyama on May 12.
Phiri was initially summoned to produce the same charter in the case where Chiluba and others are challenging the registration of the London High Court judgment.
On January 22 this year, Chiluba and his co-defendants in the London case applied to the Lusaka High Court to have Phiri subpoenaed to produce the financial charter before the court but he could not on grounds that he could only do so with the permission of President Levy Mwanawasa.
Chiluba's lawyers then wrote to President Mwanawasa asking him to allow Phiri to produce the financial charter before court. However, the President refused contending that Chiluba and others had a chance to cross-examine Phiri on the document in the London case but they refused to participate in its proceedings.
President Mwanawasa dismissed the application by Chiluba's lawyers as irregular saying a Zambian Court could not set aside a foreign judgment that had not yet been registered by the Zambian High Court.
He described as strange and an abuse of the court process the request for the production of the financial charter arguing that the current proceedings related to the registration of the London judgment and not a re-trial of the case.
President Mwanawasa added that there were security considerations in the financial charter and it could not be used anyhow. The matter comes up on May 12 when Chiluba is expected to open his defence.
Labels: CHILUBA, COURTS
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Court allows production of bank statements in Regina's case
By Inonge Noyoo
Tuesday April 29, 2008 [04:00]
LUSAKA magistrate Charles Kafunda has allowed the production of bank statements and business documents relating to Regina Chiluba’s transactions in the case where she is accused of receiving property believed to have been stolen. Magistrate Kafunda has, however, reserved ruling on whether the legal documents which were produced in the matter should be admitted as evidence.
Magistrate Kafunda was delivering his ruling following Regina’s lawyer Robert Simeza’s objection to the production of the documents saying the prosecution had not laid enough foundation to merit the admission of the documents as evidence.
He said though the documents in question could be categorised as business documents, they were collected in the course of investigations.
Magistrate Kafunda said Anti Corruption Commission prosecutor Vincent Machila could produce the said documents as he acquired them during the course of his investigations.
He said a number of witnesses who testified in the matter attested to the nature of the documents and their source.
Magistrate Kafunda said he found the testimony of the witnesses who earlier testified in the matter to have formed the necessary foundation required to admit the documents.
He said the fact that the documents in question may be photocopies did not warrant their exclusion as the whereabouts of their originals had been sufficiently explained.
Magistrate Kafunda said the investigations officers were empowered under section 81 to collect the said document and produce them before court.
He has however reserved ruling on whether the documents from the lawyers Elzugar Musonda and company should be produced as evidence.
Simeza had argued that the said documents were legal documents obtained from his client's lawyers and they could not be produced in court by a legal advisor without the consent of his client.
Simeza said the said documents were forbidden from production because of the said professional privilege.
The matter comes up on May 3.
Labels: COURTS, REGINA CHILUBA
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Findlay wins rape case
By Laura Mushaukwa in Ndola
Friday April 25, 2008 [04:00]
SUSPENDED MMD Copperbelt chairperson Terence Findlay (right) was yesterday acquitted on charges of rape and possession of obscene material by the Ndola Magistrates’ Court. However, Findlay was found guilty of assaulting a 16-year-old girl and was fined K5 million by Ndola Principal Resident Magistrate Chilombo Phiri.
This is in a case where Findlay was indicted for rape contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence were that Findlay on unknown dates but between May 1, 2007 and June 2, 2007 in Ndola had unlawful carnal knowledge of a 16-year-old grade ten pupil of Kansenshi Secondary School.
On the second count, he was charged with possession of obscene material contrary to the provisions of section 177(1a) of the Penal Code Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
It was alleged that Findlay on unknown dates but between May 26, 2007 and June 3, 2007 had in his possession a DVD film that tended to corrupt morals.
On the last count, he was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm contrary to Section 248 of the Penal Code CAP 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
According to the indictment, Findlay on June 2, 2008 assaulted his victim, causing her harm.
Findlay pleaded not guilty on all counts and 11 witnesses testified against him.
The 16-year-old girl who claimed Findlay raped and assaulted her narrated her ordeal before the court.
She told the court that on the fateful day, Findlay picked her up on her way home from school and they drove to town where he gave her a drink that he opened.
The girl added that she and Findlay then drove to Castle Lodge where Findlay booked a room. At this point the girl said she was feeling tired but later on in the evening she was surprised to find herself and Findlay naked in the same room.
She also recounted in court how she found herself naked and bleeding from her private parts on different occasions with Findlay's friend Zinho Latife and others in a room at Savoy Hotel.
The girl revealed that on one occasion, Findlay gave her a pornographic DVD dubbed Bwaski One to watch and on a different occasion he burnt her with a cigarette lighter on her buttock and arm after she refused to have sex with him.
Findlay was put on his defence after Magistrate Phiri found him with a case to answer on all the charges against him.
When the matter came up for defence on February 22, 2008 Findlay opted to remain silent and called seven witnesses.
In passing judgment, Magistrate Phiri said the onus was on the prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
She said she would acquit the accused person if she had any doubts after considering the case.
She added that for her to establish the guilt of the accused person on the charge of rape there was need for corroboration on some aspects to avoid the dangers of false complaints and that the ingredients of the commission of the offence of rape needed to be satisfied.
Magistrate Phiri cited the ingredients that needed to be satisfied on the first count as proof that Findlay had unlawful carnal knowledge with the girl without her consent.
She established that the evidence of all the prosecution witnesses did not corroborate with that of the girl and that the girl told her neighbour that she had a dream where she found herself naked with Findlay but never told her that the ordeal actually happened.
Magistrate Phiri noted that although the girl rightly identified Findlay, the doctor who examined the girl testified that the findings were inconclusive and that there was nothing to suggest the commission of the offence.
She said there was no evidence that the drink that Findlay gave the girl was doctored as no drink had been brought before court to prove the claim and that the girl was fully conscious when she saw Findlay book a room.
Magistrate Phiri was surprised at the manner in which the arresting officer turned a blind eye to all the other incidents where the girl was raped by the many men she mentioned.
She noted that the friend to the girl appeared not to know Findlay and pointed at somebody else during the identification parade.
It is on this basis that she acquitted Findlay on the charge of rape.
On the second count of possession of obscene material, Magistrate Phiri explained that to establish the guilt of the accused person, there needed to be proof of actual possession or constructive possession where the obscene material was with someone else but from the accused.
She ruled that the obscene material did not have any impact on the girl since she testified that she never watched the film.
Magistrate Phiri said she could not ignore the note attached to a letter the girl wrote to her grandmother talking about shooting a pornographic movie in Kitwe.
She observed that the arresting officer did not do his job by investigating the pornography matter so as to ascertain whether or not there could be a source of the pornographic film.
Magistrate Phiri also acquitted Findlay on this charge.
On the last count of assault, she found Findlay guilty saying the medical report showed that the girl had burns and the description of the house where Findlay burnt her after she refused to have sex with him matched the house where she led the court.
Magistrate Phiri dismissed as concocted, the story by Findlay's witnesses that on the material day they had visitors and there was no way the girl could have gone there.
She ruled that the girl knew the house very well, an indication that she had really been there.
In mitigation, one of Findlay's lawyers, Paulman Chungu said he was a first offender.
Chungu said Findlay and the girl clearly knew each other and the circumstances leading to the assault were unfortunate.
Chungu asked the court to exercise leniency saying the assault was not fatal.
Magistrate Phiri fined Findlay K5 million failure to which he is to face nine months imprisonment.
Findlay, who said he was happy that he had been acquitted on the charges that were very serious, paid the K5 million cash immediately.
However, Findlay said he could not comment on the assault charge as his lawyers had advised him not to.
Commenting on the judgment, the relatives to the girl said it was unfair and that rich people always got away with crimes.
There was near drama when the visibly distressed grandmother to the 16-year-old girl said she was going to reveal everything, as she had been quiet for a long time.
She was however whisked away by one of her other relatives.
But one of the defence lawyers Eric Silwamba said he was happy that the judgment vindicated their plea of innocence on behalf of Findlay.
On the assault conviction, Silwamba said they would study the judgment and obtain instructions later.
And Silwamba explained that he was not in court when judgment was being delivered because he was in the High Court library. “I was in the library strategising because we went to court with an open mind”, he said.
Labels: COURTS, TERRENCE FINDLAY
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Sata fails to stop defamation of the President prosecution
By Noel Sichalwe
Friday April 18, 2008 [04:00]
LUSAKA principal resident magistrate Charles Kafunda yesterday sanctioned the prosecution of Patriotic Front president Michael Sata and two others for defamation of President Mwanawasa. And Sata, 71, his vice-president Guy Scott, 63 and a police officer Clement Andeleki, 34 have pleaded not guilty to the charge of defaming President Mwanawasa.ation of the President prosecution
This is a matter in which Sata, Scott who is also Lusaka Central member of parliament and Andeleki have been charged with defamation of the President following the forged letter dated January 14, 2006, which Andeleki allegedly gave to Sata who in turn passed it to The Post for publication.
Sata sent the letter to The Post, purporting that President Mwanawasa ordered the arrest of PF cadres who waved at him on his way to the official opening of Parliament on January 20th, 2006.
On Wednesday, defence lawyers comprising Robert Simeza, Bonaventure Mutale, Mathew Pikiti, Edgar Lungu, Professor Patrick Mvunga, Mumba Kapumpa and Wynter Kabimba applied to stay the proceedings while awaiting the outcome of the appeal in the Supreme Court arising from the same case.
The appeal related to the refusal by then trial magistrate Edward Musona to refer the matter to the High Court to determine constitutional issues.
The defence argued that if the matter went ahead in the magistrates’ court, the Supreme Court appeal would be rendered academic.
However, the state comprising Frank Mumbuna, Anderson Simbulyani and Brian Lubinda argued that the defence should provide sufficient documents to indicate that the appeal was pending before the Supreme Court.
The state argued that what was in the Supreme Court was merely a notice of appeal that was filed on July 6, 2007 without any grounds of argument.
Passing the ruling yesterday, magistrate Kafunda said he had looked at the High Court appeal judgment by judge Charles Kajimanga and the Supreme Court appeal judgment by judge Dennis Chirwa when considering the application.
He said defence lawyers did not make reference to the cardinal point that judge Kajimanga threw away the application and ordered an express hearing of the matter before the magistrate court.
Magistrate Kafunda also noted that the court had ordered that trial could proceed in the magistrates’ court since defence lawyers did not appeal against the order for express trial.
"It is clear from the judgment that there was an express direction upon this court to proceed with the matter. I also perused through the judgment of judge Chirwa and the court has not been informed of the appeal against the express order to proceed with this case and no stay of execution was obtained that remains binding to this court. Therefore, the current criminal trial has to go ahead. Therefore, I can't grant the application because I am under express direction of the High Court to proceed," he said.
Magistrate Kafunda further said the defence's application was misleading because they failed to make full disclosure of the facts surrounding the case. He was unhappy with senior lawyers that made submissions that were against the order for express trial of the matter. He said it was regrettable that senior lawyers at the level of state counsel could make misleading submissions.
The matter was adjourned to May 23 and 27 for trial.
Labels: COURTS, DEFAMATION, SATA
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My involvement in Carlington maize deal was professional, says Mutale
By Inonge Noyoo
Thursday April 17, 2008 [04:00]
FORMER Attorney General Bonaventure Mutale has said there was nothing strange about his involvement in the US $ 7.8 million Carlington maize saga. Commenting on revelations by the Task Force on Corruption chairman Maxwell Nkole that he was one of the people yet to be called and interrogated on the maize deal, Mutale said his involvement in the Carlington deal was merely in his official capacity as attorney general at the time.
Mutale said he was very amused at revelations that he would be interrogated on the Carlington maize scandal.
“The context in which that statement was made is very regrettable because my involvement in the matter was as Attorney General and I prosecuted the claim against Carlington in the London Court of Arbitration. What the Task Force is doing is exactly what I did then,” he said.
Mutale said acting on instructions from then president Frederick Chiluba, he conducted investigations in the Carlington maize saga as to why there was a failure by the company to supply the maize or pay the money it owed the Zambian government.
He said he prosecuted the case and the judgment was in favour of Zambia and Carlington was ordered to pay back the money.
“What is remaining now is the award to be enforced and for the money to be paid back. I find it regrettable for someone to say I will be interrogated over the Carlington maize scandal because the files are there to speak for themselves.
You can go to the ministry of justice now and you will find all the files you need on the Carlington deal, everything is documented. I was only involved in my official capacity as Attorney General and after the event,” he said.
Mutale said he would, however, assist with any information that the Task Force may need from him.
“I am still under oath to assist them. They can consult me and I will be able to assist them. Otherwise my involvement was simply professional like a lawyer is instructed to prosecute a case by a client.
I was instructed as Attorney General to conduct the case on behalf of Zambia. I was simply chasing a debt,” he said. “There is nothing strange about my involvement since I was legal advisor and I was instructed to recover debt. Actually, the Task Force is simply duplicating what I did at the time.”
The Task Force on Corruption has been investigating the case of Carlington Sales Company, a Canadian commodity supplier, following an agreement with the Zambian government in 1997/98 to supply maize to Zambia amounting to US $24 million. The government paid US $7.8 million towards the contract but no maize was ever delivered to Zambia.
Labels: BONAVENTURE MUTALE, COURTS, MAIZE
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Magistrate Kafunda refuses to recuse himself in President Mwanawasa's
By Noel Sichalwe
Thursday April 17, 2008 [04:00]
LUSAKA principal resident magistrate Charles Kafunda yesterday refused to recuse himself in the case where Patriotic Front president Michael Sata and two others are charged with defamation of President Levy Mwanawasa. This is a matter in which Sata, his vice-president Guy Scott and a police officer Clement Andeleki have been charged with defamation of the President following the forged letter dated January 14, 2006, which Andeleki allegedly gave to Sata who in return passed it to The Post for publication.
Sata sent the letter to The Post, purporting that President Mwanawasa ordered the arrest of PF cadres who waved at him on his way to the official opening of Parliament in January 2006.
When the matter came up for plea yesterday, defence lawyers comprising Robert Simeza, Bonaventure Mutale, Mathew Pikiti, Edgar Lungu and Wynter Kabimba applied to hear the preliminary application in chambers.
While in chambers, the defence raised two preliminary issues with the first one being that the court should suspend hearing of the matter while awaiting the determination of the appeal in the Supreme Court arising from the same case.
The appeal related to the refusal by then trial magistrate Edward Musona to refer the matter to the High Court to determine constitutional issues.
The second issue was that magistrate Kafunda should recuse himself from handling the matter because he had earlier convicted Andeleki for contempt of court and further testified against him at a tribunal convened by the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE).
Pikiti argued that magistrate Kafunda should recuse himself in respect of proceedings against Andeleki because he had earlier convicted Andeleki for contempt of court in another matter.
He contended that magistrate Kafunda facilitated the proceedings against Andeleki by testifying against him at a tribunal thereby destroying his life.
Pikiti urged magistrate Kafunda to recuse himself so that justice could prevail in the matter. The state, however did not reply to the application.
The application was also supported by Mutale and Professor Mvunga.
In his ruling, magistrate Kafunda said he had thought about the issues and that Pikiti was fully aware of the matter with regard to Andeleki's contempt case.
Magistrate Kafunda said the record was clear that Andeleki was a learner student at ZIALE when he placed himself on record as defence counsel in a criminal matter.
He said it was clear that Andeleki had committed contempt of court by pretending to be a lawyer when he was not. He said Andeleki even failed to justify his conduct and instead apologized for what he had done.
"Accused number three (Andeleki) was cautioned and was ordered to leave the court but he had made for about three times where he was defending a criminal matter," magistrate Kafunda said.
He took great exception at what he regarded as the misrepresentation of facts by Pikiti. He said the tribunal at ZIALE was merely meant to learn what had happened with regard to Andeleki's conduct where he gave an objective position.
He said it was regrettable that Pikiti could paddle such falsehood against the court and that as an officer of the court, he was supposed to maintain and protect the integrity of the court.
Magistrate Kafunda said Pikiti had just misled Prof Mvunga when he supported the argument.
"Should he (Pikiti) depart from that duty and embark on an acrimonious and disrespectful route, this court will be compelled to exercise its full jurisdiction to discipline every officer of the court especially when it is clear that they intentionally want to bring this court into ridicule and contempt," said magistrate Kafunda.
"The court will therefore, have the said application dismissed."
Labels: CHARLES KAFUNDA, COURTS, DEFAMATION, MWANAWASA, SATA
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Chimumbwa freed after paying debt
By JUDITH KONAYUMA
A LUSAKA magistrate’s court has acquitted former Nchanga member of Parliament Charles Chimumbwa after a South Korean businessman he allegedly swindled told the court he has been given two vehicles to compensate for the US$35,000 in question.
Chimumbwa was due to start his defence yesterday before Lusaka Resident Magistrate Aridah Chulu when the complainant, Eung Soek Lee, made an application to withdraw the case because the accused had given him two Toyota Hilux vehicles to compensate for the money he obtained. He was charged with obtaining money by false pretenses.
In her ruling, Mrs Chulu informed Chimumbwa that the court was acquitting him following the application by Mr Eung.
It was alleged that between September 12 2005 and January 25 last year, with intent to deceive or defraud, he obtained US$35,000 from Mr Eung by falsely pretending that he had some copper cathodes for sale when in fact not.
Chimumbwa was found with a case to answer in February.
Chimumbwa informed the court he would call six witnesses, three from within and three others from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Labels: COURTS
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Musona summons Post editor over generals' corruption editorial
By Noel Sichalwe
Tuesday April 01, 2008 [04:01]
LUSAKA High Court deputy registrar Edward Musona yesterday summoned Post editor Fred M'membe over an editorial titled 'Chiluba and his corrupt generals'. Musona is sitting as trial magistrate in the matter where former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) commander Lieutenant General Sande Kayumba, former chief logistics Brigadier General Andrew Nyirongo and Lusaka businessman Amon Sibanda are separately charged with abuse of office and corruption.
When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, one of the defence lawyers Willie Mubanga applied that the court should summon The Post editor for implying that his client was corrupt before the matter was concluded in court in an editorial published on March 17.
The editorial comment read: “Never in the history of this country have we seen so many defence chiefs become so rich or affluent.Most of those who served as commanders for the Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force and Zambia National Service under the presidency of Frederick Chiluba are today facing corruption charges in our courts of law. Some of them are lucky they are not being prosecuted because they left a little bit too early before the corruption of the Chiluba regime got really entrenched.
Today we have the former commander-in- chief, Chiluba himself, former Zambia Army commander Lt Gen Geojago Musengule and two former Zambia Air Force commanders - Lt Gen Sunday Kayumba and Lt Gen Christopher Singogo facing corruption charges in our courts of law.
The former Zambia National Service commandant, Lt Gen Wilford Funjika is today languishing in jail for corruption. And Chiluba's intelligence chief, Xavier Chungu, is on the run after jumping bail and he is wanted to come and face corruption charges. And to this list we can add many others in our defence forces that were linked to this corruption but for various reasons cannot be effectively prosecuted.
This is the corrupt situation Chiluba presided over as commander-in-chief. Surely, can anyone be wrong to attribute this massive corruption that permeated and contaminated all the top echelons of our armed forces to the then commander-in-chief's behaviour or attitude?
It is said that when a fish is rotten, the waste affected part that contaminates everything is the head. Chiluba's corruption nearly destroyed, if it didn't destroy, our armed forces. How else can one explain this situation?
We had many outstanding generals who left the armed forces with very little, if not nothing. We have the first indigenous commander of the Zambia Army, Gen Kingsley Chinkuli who left the system with almost nothing. He is not a rich man, and today he is humbly serving this country as ambassador to Germany.
We also have Gen Peter Zuze, Gen Malimba Masheke, Gen Benjamin Mibenge, Lt Gen Christon Tembo and even the late Lt Gen Hananiah Lungu. These officers served our country for many years but they are not as rich as Chiluba's generals - the Kayumbas, Musengules, Singogos, Funjikas, among many others. Why? Is it because they were dim and Chiluba's generals were much smarter? The only discernible reason for the difference between them and Chiluba's generals is that they were not corrupt. They only took that which was due to them. They didn't rape our armed forces and the nation.
Look at what Chungu did to this country! Chungu left the intelligence services as the richest intelligence chief in the history of our country. Why? Is it because Chungu was cleverer than those before him? Certainly not. Chungu, a mere Form 5, could have not been cleverer than the other intelligence chiefs we have had before him.
What made Chungu much richer was corruption, abuse of office and outright stealing of public funds. This is the situation Chiluba presided over as commander-in-chief. Actually, one can rightly conclude that Chiluba was the commander-in-stealing. He was the chief thief.
The abuses started with him and went down to the lowest officer. Chiluba's criminal mind contaminated not only our armed forces but the entire government or state system. Never has corruption been more deep-rooted in our state system than in the 10 years of Chiluba's rotten regime. This is what Dr Kenneth Kaunda is talking about. And rightly so.
If Chiluba has got a conscience, let him examine his mind and see how he can explain this whole scenario, this web of corruption. There is nothing offensive about what Dr Kaunda said because it is the true explanation of what happened. It is indeed sad to see such a nice man, a well brought up officer like Lt Gen Funjika swayed by the general corrupt practices that had characterised the Chiluba regime to end up in jail.
Lt Gen Funjika is certainly different from the other arrogant and corrupt idiots that Chiluba promoted to very high ranks just to use them in his corruption. And this is what Dr Kaunda was talking about; it is this that made him sad about Lt Gen Funjika.
There is no excuse Lt Gen Funjika betrayed the Zambian people and the rank and file of the Zambia National Service. And we hope one day Lt Gen Funjika will pick up courage and apologise to the people of Zambia and the officers and men in the Zambia National Service for his crimes against them. There is no offence against Chiluba in what Dr Kaunda said.
The only thing is that criminals, crooks and liars don't like the truth because they don't live by it; it offends and hurts them. What we need now is to restore the good image of our armed forces so that the Zambian people can once again look at them with pride and respect.
Dr Kaunda and his generals took the image of our armed forces to very high heights and Chiluba and his tandem of thieves have brought it down to the lowest levels. It will take a lot of effort to restore the traditions of honest service, not only in our armed forces but in the whole nation.
Again, Chiluba cannot escape blame for this culture of corruption - he nurtured and entrenched it and made it the hallmark of his political survival.
We urge President Levy Mwanawasa, as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to work tirelessly with the new command of our armed forces to restore honesty and integrity among our men and women in uniform. Armed forces will continue to be an important part of our lives.
And nobody should deceive us, or we shouldn't allow ourselves to be deceived, that we can do without armed forces. We need them and we should spend intelligently and rationally to strengthen them.
Of course we don't have a lot of money to spend on our armed forces but with a military strategy, we can have a good army that will be able to defend our country when need arises. Again, this can only be achieved if we succeed in removing corruption, banditry and thieving from our armed forces, especially the very top ranks.”
In response, state prosecutions lawyer Mutembo Nchito said the contempt was committed outside the face of the court and that the defence were free to do what they wanted.
Afterwards, Musona ordered that The Post editor should appear before him on Thursday morning to explain why they wrote an editorial, which seemed to be prejudicial.
M’membe said he will comply with the order and it gives him a good opportunity to show the court that it is not only The Post that that is saying what was said and that this in no way prejudices the trial because everything that was said is already in the public domain.
“This is clearly a malicious application to try and embarass The Post by people who have other issues with us,” M’membe said. “But it won’t work, instead it is them who are going to be embarassed and humiliated on Thursday. This is clearly an abuse of the court process to try and settle scores that have nothing to do with matters before the court.
Moreover, if there is any transgression on our part they know very well what remedies are available to them.”
And a handwriting expert Hapton Mphande testified how he examined about 32 documents to establish whether they were written by one person.
Mphande, 37, based at Police headquarters said he examined the documents availed to him on January 21, 2008 and employed the procedure of examining questioned documents.
He said he wanted to establish whether there were similarities in the handwriting on all the documents.
However, in cross-examination by lawyer Vincent Malambo, Mphande said he did not examine any differences in the handwriting.
Trial continues on April 3.
Labels: CHILUBA, COURTS, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THE POST
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Let Chiluba serve his purgatory
By Editor
Tuesday April 01, 2008 [04:00]
THERE is no fair and just-minded person who can ask President Levy Mwanawasa to stop the prosecution of Frederick Chiluba. And what reasons are going to be advanced for stopping the prosecution of Chiluba? Is it going to be because he is a former president, an important and influential man? Or is it because it is believed that he has not committed any of the crimes he is today being prosecuted for? What is it? They should tell us!
And what standards – political, legal, moral or otherwise-are they trying to advance?
It will not be unfair for us to think that those who are asking Levy to halt the prosecution of Chiluba are people more open or more inclined to corruption. Stopping the prosecution of Chiluba will be an abuse of power on the part of Levy or indeed even on the part of the Director of Public Prosecutions himself.
The right to equality before the law, or equal protection of the law as it is often phrased, is fundamental to any just and democratic society. Whether rich or poor, former president or humble citizen, political ally of those in power or opponent – all are entitled to equal protection before the law.
The democratic state cannot guarantee that life will treat everyone equally, and it has no responsibility to do so. However, under no circumstances should those in power impose additional inequalities; they should be required to deal evenly and equally with all their people.
No one – including a former president whose presidential immunity has been lawfully removed – is above the law, which is, after all, the creation of the people, not something imposed upon them.
The citizens of a democracy submit to the law because they recognise that, however indirectly, they are submitting to themselves as makers of the law. When laws are established by the people who then have to obey them, both law and democracy are saved.
But we know that in every society throughout history, those who administer the criminal justice system hold power with the potential for abuse.
Every state must have power to punish criminal acts, but this must not be done in an arbitrary manner and should not be subjected to political manipulation by those in power.
There is need to realise that we are not living in an 18th century chiefdom.
We are citizens of a modern republic where there is supposed to be an independent judiciary. And the idea of independence of the judiciary as it now presents itself is a modern one.
If we go back in history, we shall generally find that although the notion that justice should be fairly administered may well have been accepted, those who adjudicated or settled cases were not expected to be in any real sense “independent”.
Justice was a royal prerogative, which the ruler carried out through his appointed officials or justices. As such, not only were there no separation of powers, but those who prosecuted and judged were agents of those who ruled.
Independence of the judiciary is the supporting pillar of the rule of law. It is not enough to say that the courts should follow and apply the laws faithfully and equally to all.
One must in addition demand that there should be no dispensing power vested in the president or any other office which would relieve a person from the duties and process of the law.
There is hardly a more powerful weapon which can be abused in the hands of a government than that of initiating and discontinuing prosecutions.
We know very well that the prosecution process in this country has been often abused to harass opponents of those in power through unjustifiable prosecutions, or by exempting their own friends, supporters, cadres or ministers from liability for illegal acts through the discontinuance of prosecutions.
The judiciary at whatever level may find itself confronting these abuses, and may find itself subjected to enormous pressures to accept them. Often, if the process is legal but unfair, there is little that a court can do.
The matters for which Chiluba is being prosecuted are not personal ones between him and his friend Levy. Chiluba is believed to have stolen from the public, to have shamelessly abused his high office. And in so doing, he offended the entire nation. What Chiluba did was to commit a crime against the entire nation.
It is no wonder Zambians in 2002 took to the streets demanding the removal of his presidential immunity so that he could be prosecuted for corruption and abuse of office. And as Levy aptly put it, it was the people of Zambia and not himself who decided to take the matter to court.
It will be extreme disrespect for the Zambian people for Levy to drop the charges against Chiluba at the insistence of Chiluba’s friends. Yes, it is Chiluba who helped Levy become president but obligations to the people take precedence over commitment to a friend. And Levy should not be allowed to use his office to pay a debt to a friend, to Chiluba.
The office that Levy occupies is not his; it belongs to the people and it should be used for the people’s interest. It should be used to carry out his obligations to the people and not for paying back personal favours.
It will equally be shocking, given where we are coming from with this case, for our Director of Public Prosecutions to even think of dropping the charges against Chiluba.
So far Chiluba has been accorded the full due process of the law. And all opportunities for defending himself have been accorded – a thing he didn’t do for others when he was in power.
Let the law take its course. If Chiluba is found without a case to answer, let him be acquitted. If the court will find him with a case to answer, let him – like every other accused person – defend himself. After all, Chiluba has maintained that he is innocent and he is ready to defend himself. So let him do so.
Moreover, if the charges against Chiluba are dropped, how fair are we going to be as a nation to people like Lt General Funjika who is today languis 
