PF never collected revenue from Intercity Bus Station - Muchemwa

LUSAKA businessman, Francis Muchemwa has told the Lusaka Magistrate Court that he never saw any parallel revenue collected by the Patriotic Front (PF) at Intercity Bus Terminus as all payments were made through the Lusaka City Council.

In this matter, Muchemwa, 38, is charged with seven counts of possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime contrary to the laws of Zambia as the court acquitted him on three counts of failure to comply with provisions of the income tax act contrary to section 99(1) as read with section 98 of the Laws of Zambia.

Muchemwa is charged with two persons in the name of companies namely Friltech Networks Zambia Ltd and Altitude Properties Ltd.

Opening his defence, the former Intercity Branch PF vice chairperson told Chief Resident Magistrate, Davies

Chibwili that all gate passes were paid through to the council and given receipts.

Muchemwa said bus owners would also give a receipt to a driver in charge of a particular bus and receipts would be produced at the gate later collected by the council after payments are made.

“In 2014, a few months before I stopped working for Intercity, the local authority introduced another system where they would not allow bus owners to pay in cash but instead they would go and deposit money to Atlas Mara Bank in Kamwala. The council would take that slip from the bank and give it to cashiers at Intercity council officers who would then give them a coupon to be used as a gate pass for a bus leaving Intercity Bus Terminus,’’ he said.