By CHARLES MUSONDA
NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili is tomorrow scheduled to know his fate in a matter he has been found with a case to answer for alleged forgery.
According to Section 349 of the Penal Code, any person who forges any judicial or official document is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
In this case Kambwili has also been put on his defence for allegedly uttering a false document and giving false information to a public officer.
Lusaka High Court deputy Registrar David Simusamba, who sits as Principal Resident Magistrate in the matter, was supposed to deliver the judgment yesterday but he could not due to what he called administrative circumstances beyond his control.
Mr. Simusamba had last month set yesterday as judgment date after Kambwili failed to finish his defence due to several adjournments caused by his lawyers Musa Mwenye State Counsel, Keith Mweemba, Gilbert Phiri, and Christopher Mundia.
In his ruling, Mr. Simusamba said he had on several occasions extended the time that he had given the defence lawyers to conclude their defence and close the case.
He added that he had told the defence at the last sitting that he would not allow any more adjournments
He then refused to grant the application for an adjournment and proceeded to close the case.
Kambwili later told journalists that it was unfair for Mr. Simusamba to refuse an adjournment and that he did not understand why the magistrate could close the case before the defence officially closed it. He added that Mr. Mweemba was in Chipata for another case while Mr. Mundia was appearing before the High Court in a matter where the UPND has sued the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
Kambwili later lodged another complaint at the Judicial Complaints Commission (JCC) against Mr. Simusamba that the magistrate had expedited his defence to imprison him after he refused to allegedly bribe him with K360, 000.
In his letter dated September 22, 2020 addressed to the JCC, Kambwili complained that Mr. Simusamba had blatantly violated his rights to fair trial including his entitlement to the same facilities the State had when it took its time of three years to conclude its case.
Kambwili’s charges emanate from registration of his company Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services Limited.
According to complainant Economic and Equity Party leader Chilufya Tayali, the registration of Mwamona had anomalies as a different national registration card (NRC) was used to register Kambwili’s son Mwamba as one of the company’s directors.
Mr. Tayali’s contention was that Mwamba was a minor to obtain an NRC at the time he was registered as a director of Mwamona.
He argued that documents in question, in particular a ‘no change return’ at Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA), were signed by Kambwili on the pretext that they were signed by his son Mwamba when in fact not.
During trial the court heard that the NRC that was used to register Mwamba as a director belonged to Kambwili’s sister Sampa.
Kambwili forgery judgment on
