By NATION REPORTER
MACHINATIONS of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to paint former Foreign Affairs minister, Joe Malanji black have been exposed.
Mr Malanji’s lawyer Makebi Zulu rubbished claims that he ferried millions of dollars from Turkey to Zambia using the presidential challenger plane, while the Lusaka High Court has ruled that it was illegal for the DEC to demand that Mr Malanji surrenders documents for his helicopter for him to be released on police bond.
Judge Dancewell Bowa made the ruling yesterday when he granted Mr. Malanji bond after setting aside the DEC’s demand.
Mr Zulu said Mr Malanji’s instructions were that, that particular article claiming he went to Turkey using the Presidential jet was malicious and intended to tarnish his image in the public eye.
He said that there was an issue at court relating to the issue of Ankara which did not suggest that he took money from Ankara to Zambia using the presidential challenger.
‘’There is a matter before court relating to Ankara and it does not suggest that he used the presidential challenger at any point,’’ he said.
Mr Zulu said that Mr Malanji would exercise all his options to ensure that his right to a fair trial was upheld rather than what was going on at the moment where his image was deemed questionable.
He said the machinations were aimed at painting him black in the public eye but that he would have his day and defend himself in court.
Mr Zulu said his client was weighing his options and would know the next step of action concerning the malicious article in one of the tabloids.
And Mr Makebi Zulu earlier told journalists after Mr. Bowa’s ruling that the court found that it was illegal for DEC to demand the conditions they sought for him to give them documents they intended to use as evidence in court.
“The court has plainly put it that he ought to be given same conditions that Mr Fredson Yamba (former Secretary to the Treasury) was given,” Mr. Zulu said.
The court has given Mr. Malanji bond conditions of K10, 000 for each of his two working sureties in their own recognisance and himself in his own recognisance.
He was later released from Ridgeway police post where he spent two nights following his arrest with Mr. Yamba on Tuesday.
It is alleged that the former Foreign Affairs minister on dates between December 28, 2020 1st March 2021 flew into Ankara with the presidential challenger jet to collect money believed to have been sent to the Zambian mission for purchasing an embassy building in that country.
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