FORMER Patriotic Front (PF) Ndola Central Constituency member of Parliament (MP), Mark Mushili and his son, Sydney, have been acquitted by the Ndola magistrate’s court on 27 counts of corrupt practices.
Ndola District registrar, Kelvin Limbani, sitting as chief resident magistrate yesterday acquitted Mushili, 63, and his son, Sydney, 35,both of House Number 32, Dr Darmie Street in Ndola on all 27 counts of corrupt practices.
Passing judgment, Mr Limbani said the evidence before the court showed that some witnesses had interests to serve in the proceedings.
He said from the evidence before the court, it was clear that Anegi Oils Company Limited had a business relationhip with Tazama Pipelines Ltd because fuel was uplifted from Tazama Pipelines based on the business relationship and with the authority of Tazama.
“In totality of the evidence before me and after considering all the circumstances of the case, I have no doubt that the accused persons, jointly and whilst acting together in the respective counts, did not commit the respective alleged counts and I accordingly acquit them of all the charged offences,” Mr Limbani said.
Mr Limbani stated that the liquidation of Anegi Oils was null and void in that the liquidation process raised a lot of issues.
He said the liquidation process was also coloured with irregularities and that the conduct of those involved in the liquidation left much to be desired.
As regards the acquisition of property with proceeds of crime, Mr Limbani said explanations had been given by the defence witnesses for the acquisition as per evidence adduced.
In one of the counts, Mushili and his son were alleged to have fraudulently obtained fuel worth more than K86 million from Tazama pipelines by purporting to show that Anegi Oils had made an initial payment for the purchase of the said fuel, when in fact not.
After the judgment Mr Mushili said he was highly indebted to President Sata for encouraging him to remain strong amidst all the allegations.
He said the charges were however, detrimental to him and his family as well as the PF before it came into power.
“I remained strong as the case was going on. I have never stolen in my entire life but I was labeled as a thief because of politics. I had to wait for the judicial system to determine my case and I am glad that the truth has prevailed,” Mr Mushili said.
And an accountant of Kabwe yesterday appeared in court for assault on another man who allegedly went to enquire about a chicken that had gone missing from his home.
Evans Mumba, 44, of Poleni Township in Kabwe appeared before magistrate Jennifer Bwalya and denied the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
Mumba, an accountant at Kabwe General Hospital is alleged to have assaulted Mr Teddy Mundia who is alleged to have gone to enquire about a lost cockerel which was seen at his house.
Earlier, State prosecutor Wisdom Hatimbula applied to the court for the revocation of the police bond for Mumba on the basis that its issuance was questionable and was dubiously obtained as its documentation showed that the accused person was remanded in custody and not on bond.
Mr Hatimbula told the court that the police bond in question was obtained with assistance from staff at the judiciary adding that the issuance was irregular as procedure was not followed.
He urged the court to revoke the bond so as to allow the accused person to be remanded in custody and also to give the prosecution team an opportunity to establish how the said document was issued.
Mr Hatimbula argued that the police bond was a document which was supposed to be issued genuinely and that sanity in that regard could only be brought and to determine the authenticity of the document if the matter was investigated.
But lawyer representing the accused Mulilo Kabesha from Kabesha and Company said given the scenario, he was applying for bail from the court considering that his client was of fixed abode and a civil servant who could not jump bail.
In her ruling, magistrate Bwalya ordered the prosecution team to seriously consider investigating the matter and revoked the police?bond in question.
The magistrate later granted the accused person bail of K2 million cash and two sureties and ordered that he be remanded in custody until bail conditions were met.
The accused person has since been detained at Kabwe Central police stations.
The accused person is alleged to have assaulted Mr Mundia on April 21, 2012 who had gone to the accused person’s house to enquire about a cockerel which was seen at his house and that a plank was used to hit him.
[Times of Zambia]
Congratulations,I salute you all go flat out now ba Mushili we have been missing you on the political scene..Welcome elyo ya teka nomba.
Mwapusukeni ba mushili!
Seems all PF conmen like Mushili & Mahtani will be let off the hook right, left and center. In such cases Mmembe is quiet; he only opens his beak if the judgement is not in his favour like his DBZ case. All these things being swept under the carpet will one day come to light and everyone except Ukwa will be left naked and exposed. Late George Kunda warned you that the person you’re bootlicking has immunity while you don’t; commit these crimes at your own peril.
Fake judgement by a pf magistrate. An Extremely questionable verdict.
Assaulting each other over a missing chicken??? Sounds like there is something more to this. Interesting. Anyhow, my prayer is that those who have tasted court and survived by the skin of their teeth must now desist from seeking office. We are tired of recycling characters that survive by appealing to technicality all the time…
Mmmmm strange!!!! That’s why Zambia will never change. Criminals should be punished regardless….
Very strage indeed. Its like its business as usual. Ukwa has been so compromised by such occurences that he wont even manage to change the corript culture in govt. We know the truth. We are not f00ls. There has just been too many things swept under the carpet by ukwa. What will happen now is that ukwa will lose respect from his inner circles because of greed. His own pipo will bring him down.
Fighting corruptionnnnn ???????????????
And more controversy in Ukwas party……..Wina assured the public that Kabimba was not drawing any salary from the government coffers.
“Mr Kabimba is not getting any salary from government whatsoever. The party is looking after him and so there is no area of conflict here and people should not worry that we are mixing party politics with government work,” said Wina
Uamuzi bandia wa kuwezesha ukabila wa “Bemba hegemony” kuendelea kudhulumu na kula mali ya makabila mengine.Wabemba warudi kwao DRC tuwachiwe nchi yetu bila hawa wezi kutoka kazkazini.