By NATION REPORTER
THE Patriotic Front has vowed to claim all the properties indiscriminately grabbed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) giving an impression that they were stolen.
Among those whose cars and properties were seized were clergymen and people that were considered to be in good books with the former ruling party.
PF Secretary General Nickson Chilangwa said that the Party was carefully studying the list of the impounded motor vehicles and would vehemently contest all seizures of vehicles and any other properties that legitimately belong to the Patriotic Front.
“It is important to note that the law is very clear: no person, institution or authority has a legal right to question a political party to disclose its source of funding, thus we find the action of the Anti- Corruption Commission of Zambia and other investigative wings of Government to continue questioning and harassing members of the Patriotic Front with regards to the funding of the Patriotic Front to be utterly unconstitutional and absolutely ultra-vires,” he said.
He said it was equally strange that out of all the registered political parties in Zambia, only the PF was being illegally questioned about its source of campaign funding.
Mr Chilangwa further said only the PF was having its properties confiscated when other political parties like the UPND’s vehicles were not being impounded despite them not disclosing how they acquired their vehicles. This is purely a witch-hunt and a gross misapplication of the law.
“Honestly, how can anyone think that a Party as big as the Patriotic Front; a Party that has been in existence for more than 20 years; a Party that has been in power for 10 years cannot afford to own a vehicle or a property? What kind of warped thinking is that,” he said.
This follows reports that the ACC had seized 71 vehicles and properties belonging to the Party.
According to a Gazette Notice No. 604 2022 notifying named parties to claim 71 motor vehicles that the Commission has impounded failure to which the said vehicles will be forfeited to the state.
ACC spokesperson Queen Chibwe however said that they had not seized property belonging to the PF but individuals.
Ms Chibwe said that it would be wrong to give an impression that the property seized was for the PF but that they belonged to individuals. She said the ACC had given the individuals three months to come forward and claim their property failure to which the properties would be forfeited to the state.
Ms Chibwe said that all those that would come forward would be required to prove how they got the said properties because they were suspected to be proceeds of crime.
