By LUCY PHIRI
I bought land from former Lusaka Province Minister, Bowman Lusambo which the Ndola City council confirmed, owner and CEO of Zam Imports Limited has testified in court.
In this matter, Lusambo and his wife Nancy Manase Lusambo pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of corrupt acquisition of public property, possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud.
The couple appeared yesterday before Lusaka magistrate Faides Hamaundu, who is one of the magistrates handling Economic and Financial Crimes.
Lusambo is facing all the 10 charges, while his wife is facing four.
Mr Jignesh Soni, a witness said after he had made payments to buy the land which Lusambo was selling, he discovered that the land was an encroachment.
He said in February 2021, he was approached by an agent and informed that there was some land which was available in Ndola which belonged to Lusambo.
“Mr Lusambo called me if I was interested, I said I was interested and I took a drive to the same place within Ndola and I liked the piece of land, we had made negotiations with Lusambo over the piece of land, we agreed on K880,000,’’ he said.
Mr Soni said after one week payments were made and it was in cash deposit payment using the FNB Ndola branch.
“I sent my accountant Mr Godfrey Chomba to deposit the money into Mr Lusambo’s account. He came back with a copy of a deposit slip and to my surprise the names were in Silvia Mutale,’’ he said.
He said he called Mr Lusambo to confirm if he had received the moneywhich he did.
“I went ahead and gave the surveyor to check on the land but he came back to tell me that it was an encroachment,’’ he said
Mr Soni said he then communicated with Lusambo to confirm, but Mr Lusambo was also surprised because he was not aware of encroachment.
In cross-examination, the defence lawyers being represented by Francis Daka asked Mr Soni if he deposited the K880, 000 into Frontier Management Limited, he said he did not know the company’s name.
Mr Daka further asked if the K880, 000 was deposited in Lusambo’s account, he said No, it was not in Lusambo’s account.
In count one, Lusambo is alleged to have between May 10, 2015 and December 31, 2021, in Ndola, on the Copperbelt Province, jointly and whilst acting together with other persons, unlawfully acquired property number L/39876/M in the name of Frontier Management Services Limited, which property was later conveyed to Jignesh Soni at a consideration of K880, 000, for his own benefit.
In count two, it is alleged that Lusambo on March 26, 2021 in Ndola, jointly and whilst acting together with another person unknown, possessed K880,000, which he allegedly directed to be deposited in Sylvia Chongo Mutale’s FNB account No. 62346937785 domiciled at Kitwe FNB branch, property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The court has adjourned the matter to October 25, 2022 for continued trial.
