Kambwili graft plea fails to take off
ROAN member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili and three others could not take plea in court yesterday due to absence of a Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services (METS) representative.
This is in a case in which Kambwili has been jointly charged with his son Mwamba, METS, and two individuals Lukwesa Brano Musonda and Mulenga Makasa Kapilima over a fake tax clearance certificate, which resulted in his company getting a contract from Zesco.
When the case came up before Principal Resident Magistrate Mwaka Mikalile, the State informed the court that the METS representative was not before court and asked the accused persons to inform the court on his whereabouts.
But defence lawyer Gilbert Phiri argued that it was not the defence’s duty to serve summons on indicted persons. However, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecutors said they had served the summons on the METS administrative officer and not the chief executive officer who is supposed to represent the company in court.
Later, Ms. Mikalile adjourned the case to Monday June 18, 2018 for plea.
In this case, Kambwili has been slapped with fresh charges, including uttering a fake tax clearance certificate to Zesco, which resulted in his company getting a contract from the power utility firm when he served as Cabinet minister.
Kambwili, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) president, has also been jointly charged with his son Mwamba for two counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime while the initial 34 counts of the similar offence against him have been maintained.
The ACC has further charged METS, Musonda and Kapilima who allegedly made the false Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) tax clearance certificate number 012MK dated May 4, 2014; which Kambwili and his company later uttered to Zesco Limited for award of the contract worth K1, 652,482.81.
Kambwili and METS have also been charged for obtaining pecuniary advantage after dishonestly getting US$105,220.07 from the subcontractor China Henan International Corporation Group Limited by means of false pretense.
It is alleged that between August 1, 2014 and September 30, 2016, Kambwili and METS purported that the latter was executing works on the MansaLuwingu road, on behalf of the Chinese firm, when in fact not.
In the first count, Musonda and Kapilima have been charged for making the ZRA tax clearance certificate for METS without authority contrary, to section 356 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia, while in the second count Kambwili has been jointly charged with the company for uttering the same document to Zesco with intent to deceive.