By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA and

 ADRIAN MWANZA

THE treatment the family of the late second republican president Frederick Chiluba is being subjected to is unfair and  the properties that were seized needs to be given to the family, Professor Nkandu Luo has said.

Prof Luo, who served in Dr Chiluba’s MMD administration said that the state needs to honour him by returning his assets which were grabbed from him after his death.

She said that a trend had been set in the country where any leader is deemed corrupt even if they were genuine in their dealings.

The Chiluba family has vowed that they would fight to reclaim the property that their father lost in an unfair manner.

 And Prof Luo said the persecution of the leaders was too much and that it had been the case from the Kaunda days to date.

“Nowadays, professional people don’t want to get into politics because people are scared of being dented due to the mudslinging involved,” she said.

She said President Chiluba had property he acquired which the children needed to benefit but unfortunately the government grabbed everything from the family.

Prof Luo said that a bad spirit had been sown and that it was not healthy for the nation.

She said such persecutions were painting a bad image of the country in the eyes of foreign countries who would think every Zambian leader was corrupt.

Prof Luo said there was a bad narrative that Zambians could not have money except foreigners.

She urged the powers that be to consider giving the property to the Chiluba family because he did a lot for the nation.

Family members 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.

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 K4 million 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, Longacres, 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 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 the Bank of Zambia 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 also 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.