By ADRIAN MWANZA
PROPERTIES belonging to late second Republican President Fredrick Chiluba should not have been forfeited to the state because procedures were abrogated.
Family members yesterday revealed that the state claimed that the properties were forfeited because Dr Chiluba did not claim the property.
Dr Chiluba’s children Darlington and Kaindu who are part of the administrators, said the move by the state was wrong because the former head of state claimed the property.
”He claimed the property and a judge granted him but the state appealed long after he had died,” Kaunda and Darlington Chiluba said.
The family cried foul over the inhumane manner in which the state acquired property, a time when the family was still in grief.
They revealed that the ACC waited until Dr Chiluba died before commencing legal proceedings on account that he had not claimed the property in good time therefore creating an impression that they were property acquired through proceeds of crime.
The Chiluba family indicated that it was shocking that the investigative wings acted maliciously as they waited for the patriarch who was cleared of all charges to die for them to appeal to the Supreme Court which overturned the initial judgement.
Family representatives said the family would appeal using other means despite the Ruling by the Supreme Court.
In 2017 the court forfeited properties valued at over K40 million belonging to Dr Chiluba, on grounds that he had not claimed his seized property on time.
At the time of the forfeiture, the rentals accrued amounted to over K14 million of which, over K4million was in the Kwacha Account while over $1.2 million was in the Dollar Account.
In 2002, the ACC instituted investigations into suspected corruption in the manner Tedworth Properties Incorporation Limited, a company incorporated in Panama, acquired properties in Zambia.
The property acquired by Tedworth Properties which was linked to the former head of state were Plot No. 4828, Alberg Court, located along Addis Ababa Drive, Longacre’s, Lusaka which also comprises 21 residential flats.
Others were Plot No. F/488a/26/C, Horizon House, located along Leopards Hill Road, in Kabulonga, Plot No. F/488a/26/D, Chibote House, located along Leopards Hill Road, in Kabulonga in the Capital City, Lusaka.
But Dr Chiluba made a claim on those assets and won the matter in 2010. The judge was displeased that the TFC failed to account for rentals and transferred management of those assets to BoZ under suspicious circumstances.
But the two administrators said the judgements found that no government funds were used in the purchase of those assets and it’s for this and other reasons the family would continue to pursue the matter.
The family indicated that the appeal was done in the most heinous way, while the family was grieving as they waited for him to die and took vengeance on an estate.
The administrators further stated that although the appeal was heard by a quorum of Chief Justice Irene Mambilima, Judges Royda Kaoma and Evans Hamaundu, judge Jones Chinyama; who was part of the quorum when the judgment was delivered, was not among the judges that heard the appeal.
“We are going to appeal since we are still in the 6 year time frame and despite the Supreme Court ruling not in our favour, we are going to find other means to ensure that we get justice,” he said.
They said court records even showed that the state appealed out of time so it should not have been allowed. The Chilubas said the appeal was not that the assets were bought using public funds, but changed that he did not claim the assets on time…which was erroneous and vengeful, something unbecoming of a state.
“Furthermore, these assets have since been shockingly bestowed to a new owner on the name of Pendulum Estates Limited all this while the family through its administrators and support have made appeals,” he said.
The administrators said it was time people became aware that this was never about corruption but other machinations.
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