PF ACCOUNTS FROZEN
THE Patriotic Front (PF) is shocked that its bank accounts domiciled at ZANACO have all been frozen, including an emergency account created by Luapula Members of Parliament in Mansa without informing the signatories to the accounts.
Anthony Kasandwe, the Bangweulu PF MP has disclosed that between October and November last year, it was discovered that the former ruling party accounts at ZANACO Bank in Lusaka had been forzen without advancing any reasons.
Mr Kasandwe, who is the Whip for Luapula lawmakers disclosed in an interview yesterday that as a result of the action, all the 50 MPs decided to stop contributing to the account and had since started making manual contributions to the party.
“We had been contributing K5, 000 to the PF secretariat account but the account has been compromised and we have since stopped. We are now contributing manually…all the 50 MPs except those supporting Miles Sampa. We have never stopped contributing and why has Sampa singled me and Melesiana Phiri has having resigned?” Mr Kasandwe asked.
He said it was clear that Mr Sampa, the expelled Matero Member of Parliament allegedly aided by the State had given instructions to the bank to have the PF accounts frozen even when he was not a signatory.
Mr Kasandwe said the PF was also deeply concerned that ZANACO could decide to freeze the its accounts on instructions from someone who was not a signatory.
He has questioned the morality and ethical conduct of ZANACO to freeze the PF accounts without any form of correspondence to the former ruling party.
“ZANACO has frozen all our accounts for the PF secretariat which were domiciled on two of the branches along Cairo Road. Between October and November last year, we just discovered that the PF secretariat accounts at the North-end and Southend along Cairo Road had been frozen without any form of correspondence.
The Luapula emergency account to which all the 18 MPs had been contributing had also been frozen. When we asked the bank manager in Mansa why the account had been frozen, he said he had received instructions.
How can someone who is not a signatory to an account issue an instruction to the effect that an account should be closed,” Mr Kasandwe wondered.
He said it was clear that the State in its quest to annihilate the PF through Mr Sampa, the Legislature and the Judiciary had played a hand in freezing the former ruling party accounts.
Mr Kasandwe said it was unfortunate that all institutions of governance including ZANACO had joined in perpetrating illegalities being committed by Mr Sampa with impunity.
“When we discovered that our Luapula PF lawmakers’ emergency account had been frozen, we wrote to the bank manager and he just told us that he was forwarding the letter to the ZANACO legal department. Was it ethically and morally right on the part ZANACO to freeze accounts without informing signatories?” Mr