Nothing illegal about Chimese deals - witness

A STATE witness has admitted before court that there was nothing illegal about cash withdrawals that were made from a bank account belonging to former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) Commander Eric Chimese.

This is in a case Chimese is charged with Chita Lodge Director James Chungu over alleged concealing of property suspected to be proceeds of crime and alleged money laundering, among other charges.

Testifying in the case before Lusaka Magistrate Nsunge Chanda yesterday, Esther Mwanza, a banker from ABSA, said she had not seen anything illegal about 11 withdrawals that were made between 2012 and 2014 from Chimese’s account held at then Barclays Bank Longacres branch.

In her evidence-in-chief, Ms. Mwanza had presented to court 11 withdrawal vouchers and a public prosecutor Sipholiano Phiri showed her a bank statement, which was already presented in a previous sitting, to support her testimony.

She said the account in question was a joint one held by Chimese and his wife Sharon but that she did not know the signing arrangements.

Ms. Mwanza said she was not in a position to confirm if it was a salary account for Chimese but admitted that his gratuity was paid in the same account.

She said she was not aware that there was any suspicious bank dealing and admitted that ABSA’s legal department advised her to only comment on the withdrawal vouchers.

She also admitted that there was a letter attached to one of the vouchers indicating that Chimese had accrued money from the pension ZAF paid him when he retired in March 2012.

Ms. Mwanza told the court that pension payment was legitimate and that she did not know the site for which a Captain Charles Katilungu was paid on one of the vouchers to buy building materials on Chimese’s behalf.

She said she does not know the plot Chimese was buying as indicated on the bank statement.

She said she is aware that Chimese has property but does not know the exact location of the houses, also admitting that there is nothing illegal about buying a building.

She said she did not know the reason for the alleged payment and that she did not know the use of the money that was withdrawn from Chimese’s account. Trial continues on August 19, 2020.