Fri, 24 Feb 2017 09:32:39 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recorded a warn and caution statement from UPP leader Savior Chishimba over the corruption allegations he is facing.
But Mr Chishimba said that he would not be silenced from talking about the ills going on in Zambia.
ACC is still actively pursuing the case in which Dr. Chishimba allegedly misappropriated over K153,000 when he served as National Youth Development Council (NYDC) chairman.
Dr Chishimba is alleged to have abused his authority by abusing the accounts of the NYDC from which he allegedly managed to get K153, 134.41 in double but authorised daily and sitting allowances.
But speaking after recording a warn and caution statement, Dr. Chishimba said he was excited to have appeared before the ACC because he had never faced any criminal charge or entered any police cell in his life, adding that the charges he was facing were trumped up.
He said he was not surprised that his alleged corruption at the NYDC came a week after his exposure of a corruption syndicate at the Ministry of Sports involving over K300 million. “I have neither faced a criminal charge in my life nor entered a police cell. It was therefore a very exciting moment in my life to appear before investigators at the ACC on a trumped up and ill-conceived case,
“The dissolution of the NYDC board came a week after my news conference to expose the corruption involving over K300 million by the Ministry of Youth and Sport through the abuse of authority of office to embezzle and strip the assets (houses, land and vehicles) of NYDC between 1991 and 2005 and other corrupt practices of the ministry through up to 2013.
He was surprised that a serious investigator would term the chairperson’s execution of statutory functions from an office as corruption and that he was further baffled ACC showed him a voucher with four signatures and none of the signatures was his.
“One of the signatures which they thought was mine is for the accountant of the Ministry of Youth and Sport. At this stage I was compelled to ask whether or not any of the panel of investigators had a basic qualification in law and they responded that none of them had basic studies in law.
“I told them that the role of an investigator is to establish issues from the standpoint of the law and facts. Any investigation which is devoid of these two pillars is flawed and cannot succeed at trial. I have now understood why the ACC records the highest rate of loss of cases in court,” he said.
