Nchitos plunder case adjourned

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:53:46 +0000

The Lusaka High Court has reserved ruling in an application by Nchito & Nchito acting on behalf of Bank of Zambia (BoZ) seeking to remove incriminating evidence supporting allegations that billions of Kwacha were stolen from the task force on corruption accounts.

The case which was supposed to be heard yesterday was instead fast tracked and heard last Friday in chambers before Judge Mubanga Kondolo.

The application to erase the evidence was lodged by Nchito & Nchito, a successor firm to MNB legal practioners in which Mutembo Nchito the current DPP was principal lawyer retained by BoZ to deal with the possession and liquidation of Access Finance Services Limited (AFSL) which was brought about under very questionable circumstances.

Nchito was also the lead prosecutor under the disbanded task force on corruption which was also dealing with Access cases in court.

The application sought the removal from the record the legal opinion of one Dr Leonard Kalinde in which the BoZ management were advised to cover up misconduct and theft at AFSL while under the control of the bank from 2003 to date.

Judge Kondolo advised the two parties to make written submissions within the next four weeks so that he could pass a ruling quickly in order not to delay the main application on the discoveries which the complainants had raised with the court.

Directors of the AFSL had earlier applied to the court for discovery following details of revelation of plunder of the accounts held by the defunct task force.

Speculation suggest that MNB had so far been paid in access of K8 billion (Kr 8 million) in legal fees by BoZ on the Access matters alone. This was in addition to the US $20,000 per month that was being paid by the task force on corruption.