Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:32:56 +0000
By EMMANUEL CHIBULU
A MANSA agro dealer is facing charges of being found in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Caiaphas Palangwa, a businessman of Senama compound in Mansa, is on trial for being in unlawful possession of 419 bags of fertilizer belonging to Government.
He is alleged to have had in his possession 419 x 50 kg bags of fertilizer belonging to Government.
Testifying before Mansa Principal Magistrate Boniface Mwiinga, Luapula Province Agricultural Coordinator (PACO) Godwin Chate, 48, of Namwandwe Extension in Mansa, told the court that on April 10 Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers visited his office and requested that he educates them on procedure regarding issuance of agricultural inputs under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
Mr Chate said that the officers also wanted to know if he was able to recognize a copy of the letter believed to have originated from his office to the permanent secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), in which he requested the PS to grant him permission to move bags of fertilizer from districts that had excess stocks to districts that experienced deficits during the 2016/2017 farming season.
He said that some districts that had excess stocks were those that used conventional methods to issue farming inputs while deficits were recorded in districts that used the E-voucher system.
According to him, instead of the PS responding to his letter, he referred it to the General Manager, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) Zuze Banda who sanctioned the move.
Mr Chate named districts where the E-voucher system was introduced as Mansa and Samfya while those under the conventional method were Mwense, Chipili, Kawambwa, Mwansabombwe and Chienge.
And when asked by the prosecutor to identify his letter to the PS and the one which the NCZ general manager wrote as response to his request, Mr Chate was able to identify documents as true copies.
A witness in the same case, Isaac Mulenga, 54, of CH 155 Suburbs compound in Mansa, narrated that on 28th April, 2017, he was visited by DEC officers requesting that he educates them on procedure used in selling fertilizer to agro dealers.
Mr Mulenga, a stock controller with NCZ in Luapula Province, explained that the officers also presented him with four delivery notes bearing the names of Caiaphas Palangwa as recipient of fertilizer whose details were 2,100 x 50 kg bags of ammonium nitrate, 150 x 50 kg bags of ammonium nitrate, 750 x 50 kg bags of D compound and another 405 x 50 kg bags of D compound whose sale is alleged to have been authorized by his office.
Mr Mwiinga adjourned the matter to 6th and 7th July, 2017, for continued trial.
A total of 18 witnesses have been called to testify in the matter and as of Wednesday, 10 had reported.
In the same court, two people appeared on a charge of fraud involving K2,000.
Webster Chibuye, 36, a contractor of house No. 4229, Ndeke township in Luanshya and Renox Pumpkin Phiri, 29, a driver of Linda compound in Lusaka are jointly charged with uttering documents with intent to defraud.
Chibuye is alleged to have forged cheque no. 000028 using the Stanbic Bank (Z) Ltd logo with intent to defraud a named shop in Mansa contrary to section 342 and 347 of the Penal Code.
The matter comes up later for trial.
