Kambwili skips court

ROAN member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili yesterday skipped two court cases as he is reportedly in the United Kingdom undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness. Kambwili failed to show up at the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court for the case in which he has been charged with forgery, uttering a false document, and giving false information to a public officer during registration of his Mwamona Engineering Technical Services (METS) Limited. This came to light yesterday after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) consultant and 2021 presidential candidate failed to show for the two cases he facing in the Lusaka Magistrates Courts. One of his lawyers Christopher Mundia yesterday reported to Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba that his client was in UK where he is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. The case has since been adjourned to October 2, 3, 4, and 5, 2018. Kambwili was scheduled to spend the whole of yesterday at the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court Complex facing two cases. The main matter before Magistrate Simusamba was scheduled for the morning and the contempt of court proceedings before Magistrate Nsunge Chanda was set for the afternoon. In the contempt matter, Kambwili is accused of tampering with evidence in the main case. The contempt arose after Economic Equity Party (EEP) leader Chilufya Tayali complained against Kambwili because he allegedly chaired the meeting that resolved to change particulars of METS directors when the issue was already in court. Mr. Tayali said after he testified in the main matter, the arresting officer informed him that Kambwili had lodged in documents at Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) to change the directors’ particulars. “I got concerned because my testimony in court in the morning before Magistrate Simusamba was basically on the directorship of Mwamona. I told the officer to confirm what the caller from PACRA had told him. He was the best person since he was the investigator in the case,” Mr. Tayali said. He said the officer confirmed that the directors’ names had been changed, with one of them changing from Mwamba Chishimba on the initial Form 71 during incorporation of the company in 2001, to Mwamba Kambwili and that the latter’s national registration card number had also changed. “These alterations confirmed the concern I had the day before. I was worried that the testimony I had given was not consistent with the updated records at PACRA. I basically complained by swearing in an affidavit because I felt fundamentals of the case I had earlier complained on and testified on had significantly changed. “The complaint I made was based on the fact that the names of the directors, particularly one director Mwamba Chishimba. This Mwamba Chishimba is the son of the accused but I knew that the son of the accused was not Mwamba Chishimba but Mwamba Kambwili,” he said.