STATE WITNESS REFUSES TO TESTIFY AGAINST MALANJI
A STATE witness told the Lusaka Magistrate Court that his duty was to talk about Gibson Power System Limited who bought BELL 430 JET ranger helicopter and not former Foreign Affairs Minister, Joseph Malanji.
Mr. Francis Chilufya, 52, a business relations manager at Stanbic Bank in Kitwe said in cross examination that he was not in a position to talk about any individual instead of a company that was involved in the purchase of the helicopter.
When asked by defence lawyer, Mr. Makebi Zulu if he brought any documents suggesting that Malanji personally bought the helicopter, the witness denied.
Mr. Chilufya was testifying in a case in which Malanji and former Secretary to the Treasury, Fredson Yamba are charged with 10 counts of willful failure to comply with laid down procedures and possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Yamba is charged with two counts of willful failure to comply with laid down procedures while Malanji is facing eight counts of being in possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Mr. Chilufya testified that the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) asked for certain documents pertaining to Gibson Power Systems and he informed his compliance department being the Relations Manager for Gibson.
He said the Kwacha account was opened in 2017 in Kitwe and the dollar account was opened in December, 2020 in Lusaka, Kabulonga. “When we were asked to submit the bank statements for Gibson Power Systems Limited, we discovered in the system that a dollar account had also been opened from Lusaka. We also discovered in the system that the board resolution on which a decision was arrived at to open a dollar account was not uploaded in the system,” he said. Mr. Chilufya said on the Kwacha account, the statement covered 2017 to 2021 and dollar account December 31, 2020 to August 2021.
“I printed the statement. The other documents that were availed were the transfers done from the dollar account to two different suppliers. I however have no access to the system on which the transfers were made,” he said.
Mr. Zulu asked if Mr Chilufya ever dealt with any of Malanji’s bank accounts which he denied. He was then shown a bank statement from Stanbic Bank, and asked if he came across any suspicious transactions, he answered in the negative.
It is alleged in the first count that between January, 1, 2020 and August, 31, 2021 at Lusaka, Yamba being Secretary to the Treasury, with other persons unknown did willfully fail to comply with the law in the manner he allegedly allocated and authorised the transfer of K108, 401, 197.00 to the Zambian Mission account in Turkey for the procurement of real estate among others.
It is also alleged in the other counts that Malanji between January, 1, 2020 and August, 31, 2021 in Lusaka possessed a BELL 430 JET RANGER helicopter, property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
Trial continues on March 25, 2024