By GIDEON NYENDWA
A warn and caution was recorded from President Edgar Lungu’s daughter Tasila and her husband Patrick Mwansa after refusing to sign a declaration form which was presented by the Drug Enforcement Commission yesterday.
Lawyer Makebi Zulu said the duo refused to sign a form which required them to fill in details like account numbers of her siblings.
“My clients opted not to respond to the same and DEC in their wisdom or lack of it decided that amounts to an obstruction of an authorised officer,” he said.
Mr Zulu said what was happening at DEC was clearly a fight against the family of the former president and not a fight against corruption. Mr Zulu said this after more than three hours of interrogation of Ms Lungu, who is also Chawama Member of Parliament.
Mr Zulu said DEC demanded a lot of things from their client which included documents and information that they wanted to use against them. He said their client gave a statement and at the end of the statement where she was supposed to sign found her sibling’s name, Chiyeso Lungu.
Mr Zulu said they objected to sign until there was an amendment to reflect her name.
“We are wondering why these things are being done against the family,” he said
He also said their client was given a declaration form to fill in but they objected because they know their rights.
Meanwhile Ms Mwansa said that they were trying to distract her from attending to important national matters.
She said that she was supposed to be in parliament to deal with serious matters that were being tabled.
“We have important issues to attend to and as you can see it just a distraction to sway us,” she said. Meanwhile Mr Zulu said DEC had already prepared a charge against her but they also wanted information.
He said his clients have been charged with obstruction of an officer and both have been warned and cautioned.
Mr Zulu said he wondered how they would charge them with that just because they declined to give the officer information.
“My clients have the right to remain silent,” he said.
Mr Zulu said they were disappointed with DEC because they were not investigating issues the way they were supposed to be done because there was no way they could try to get information from their client if they already had it. He said they were the state and they know where to get information relating to land from. Mr Zulu said the Ministry of Lands was there so they were supposed to come up with better information next time before they charge or investigate anyone.
He said that it is not for the accused person to give them information, it was for them to investigate and gather the information that they needed.
Mr Zulu said DEC had attributed some properties to them which they do not know about but it was not up to his clients to agree or disagree, it was up to DEC to investigate and find the true owner.
And Ms. Lungu said that she was disappointed with what was happening because it was a sheer waste of time and a distraction to prevent her from attending to important national issues.
