By CHARLES MUSONDA
LUSAKA businessman Chanda Katotobwe has testified that Marshlands Consortium was not there when he and previous owners of Ultimate Insurance started the transaction of selling the company to him.
Mr Katotobwe told Lusaka Magistrate Alice Walusiku yesterday that after he paid K300, 000 down payment, of the K1.5 million purchase price to the company’s previous owners Maybin Silavwe, Klein Siampongo, and Justin Phiri, the latter started exiting the company.
He said he then chaired a meeting at Ultimate Insurance where Richard Lubemba and Nachi Musonda were present but he did not know if they attended the meeting in their capacity as Marshlands Consortium representatives.
On Monday, Mr Katotobwe said he decided to buy Ultimate Insurance for his wife Felicitas Chibamba after Lubemba and Musonda approached him that there was an existing insurance company being sold.
He said this was after Lubemba had earlier proposed to him that they setup a joint insurance company as his contract of employment and those of Musonda and Tobias Milambo at Meanwood General Insurance were coming to an end and would not be renewed.
In this case, Marshlands directors Milambo, Musonda, and Lubemba have been charged with forgery, uttering false documents, obtaining money by false pretences, and theft.
They allegedly uttered false valuation reports to the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) for them to irregularly acquire shares in Ultimate Insurance when Mr Katotobwe and his wife were in South Africa and the United States.
He said in February 2018 he paid K300, 000 cash as initial payment for the purchase of Ultimate Insurance but after the transition started and previous owners had exited, his wife’s knee condition worsened after which they travelled to South Africa and the US for medical attention.
Mr Katotobwe said upon returning to Zambia after about four months, it came to his attention that there was an irregular transfer of shares in Ultimate Insurance.
He added that a board chairperson in the name of Luke Lubemba had been appointed while Milambo was appointed as managing director without the knowledge and consent of himself and his wife as major shareholders.
