Jailed Lusaka businessman Adolphus Mubanga appeals for bail

LUSAKA businessman, Adolphus Mubanga, who was last year jailed for being in possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime, has applied for bail pending appeal in the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.

Mubanga, currently remanded at Lusaka Central Correctional Facility, was on November 9, 2023, convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour for possessing tainted property by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court.

The convict had initially faced joint accusations alongside former Defence Minister, Geoffrey Mwamba, but were later separated from the indictment.

According to an affidavit in support of summons for admission to bail pending appeal, Mubanga, was confident that the appeal filed into the High Court on November 30, had good prospects of succeeding.

“That the only evidence implicating me as per my perusal of the judgement is that the court did not know why I was paid huge sums of money especially that I was not an agent even when the record shows that monies were being transferred to me by Katongo and Company as instructed by Curzon Global in my capacity as an agent,” he said.

He said the offences he was facing are bailable and if not granted the application, he would have served substantial portion of the sentence, thus, rendering the appeal an academic exercise.

Mubanga between June 1 and August 30, 2021, was found in possession of four million and 50 thousand units of currency in a named bank, deemed to be proceeds of crime.

It was also found that on August 30, 2015, he possessed K980, 000 held at a specific bank, and on November 30, 2015, he held K525, 954 in another bank, suspected to be proceeds of crime.