Former Ministry of Health Human Resources Officer Henry Kapoko and some officers from the Ministry of Health have been acquitted by the Lusaka Magistrate Court.
Kapoko and nine others were facing 21 counts of theft by public servant, theft and money laundering involving K4 million.
Delivering one of the longest judgements in the history of the Zambian judiciary, Magistrate Sharon Newa acquitted Kapoko and other nine accused persons because the state failed to avail evidence linking them to the crime.
The judgement was read from 10 Hours on Friday until 22:10 Hours. But Newa jailed Royal Secretarial College Proprietor Valenta Nkata to three years simple imprisonment for theft and money laundering
The court has also fined Nkata K20, 000 or in default of six months in prison.
The court proved beyond reasonable doubt that Nkata connived with officers from the Ministry of Health to use her College for workshops for the Ministry which never took place but she was paid a lot of money for it.
It was ruled that Nkata failed to refund the money to the Ministry of Health and ended up depositing the money in her personal bank account.
And in mitigation, defence lawyer Marshall Muchende pleaded with the court to exercise leniency saying his client was a first offender and a prominent member of the Church.
Nkata’s daughter Abigail who was jointly charged with her was discharged by the court after a moving mitigation by defence lawyer.
And Magistrate Newa said she had considered the mitigation but that the offence committed was serious.
Magistrate Newa also ordered that all proceeds from the crime by Nkata be forfeited to the state.
Kapoko and other officials from the Ministry of Health were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2009 for various offences of corrupt practices and theft by public servant involving K 10 million.
In November 2012, Kapoko and eight others were also acquitted of theft involving 1.9 million kwacha.
They had been accused of having stolen from the Ministry of Health by pretending that they would supply 50,000 mother baby kits.
Mansa Resident Magistrate Kenneth Mulife who sat as Lusaka magistrate said there was no theft and that the money was paid to Kapoko’s Kahekam limited in line with the signed contract.
Magistrate Mulife said if there was an element of fraud in the payment the ministry should have filed for a civil law suit in the High Court to reclaim the money.
Arrest the people that re prosecuting him because the man is as guilty as sin
But then agIb Africans are corrupt to the core and this is not shocking.
A whotemans would find the guy guilty guarantee
Thanks
Agree with Mushota-mano, DPP must be arrested for never ever win any corruption case since Chiluba’s case. Instead the prosecutors are the ones getting richer from those cases.
Nos.., glad you are the seeker of truth and justice too.
If the man owns as much assets as we are led to believe he can do anything.
Money is the only thing that makes a man fly. I know my father when he was accused and sued he lavished a judge ( not mentioning names ) with gift after gift certainly ta microwave in the early 2000’s in zambia. Needless to say a few months later the case collapsed. I am giving too much info better get back to my closet.
Only people without money thinks men can’t fly. Fortuitously I am somewhere in the middle.
Thanks
@Nostradamus
its great seeing you hugging and taking a selfie with mushota,,,,,,,,
When a proper law abiding government comes to power, these guys will go to jail because Kapoko knew that money was being paid to that college but did nothing to report the case. But instead kept authorising the payments why?
The case against Kapoko has collapsed because state witnesses were compelled not avail the evidence, which shows that the money Kapoko stole is still being used to twist the prosecutors’ mouths.
The very fact that Kapoko was HR manager and singled sourced products from his company with out proper tendering process stinks of corruption by it self. Whether state failed to prove or not,this fact in itself would got Kapoko a conviction to many years in jail.
I believe this Congolese Kapoko guy I know very well is very corrupt and bought into PF big time.
The mere fact this corruption case has taken such a long time , proves that Kapoko is being black mailed by the prosecutors big time. He will continue to pay them protection money to stay out of jail for as long as he can afford continue to pay to these prosecutors handling his case.
If he stays in Zambia ,Kapoko will be bled dry before they ditch him and get him arrested. This is Zambia, being ruled by the PF mafias where foreigners failing to pay up protection money are being bundled in the dead of the night and deported with out due process.
The boy is clever any way. He has invested his money heavily in Katanga- Lubumbashi his home town where he comes from. Now that he is free, he can just cross over and start enjoying his loot without having to pay protection money.
@ndobo, kikikiki…. Ka selfie bwana na mushota ma none yeka yeka. Sauloi ukuwayawaya, we gave him chance but ba guy is busy with PF vs HH.
@wanzelu, you said some state witnesses were compelled not to avail evidence.nit could actually be the other way round; some state witnesses were exegerating their evidence in order to divert attention from themselves. Actually some of those accused may be innocent but we’re implicated by the actual thieves. I know a chap who used to be in charge of the global fund , embezzled & when probe begun, he quickly offered to be become state witness and falsely implicated a lot of innocent people to divert attention from himself. He later resigned and stood as MP in Monze central in 2011 on MMD ticket where he lost.
@Observer
That might true. This guy you mentioned why he is not being probed? But again, where did a mere HR manager get all those billions from, if its through single sourcing his personal company to be the only Health sector supplier?
May be both the state witness and Kapoko are gulity.
Only a law abiding government will get to the bottom of this scandal.
@Nostradamus
You congenital lying orphan. Stop the lies about Ruwe.
@1.9 I never wanted to involve you my son. Ruwe is gentleman and appreciate he accepted you as step-father, why did your mother tell you about my name or is it Ruwe who told that he is not your dad?
@wanzela, anywhere in the world, the ones who opt to be state witnesses are usually not probed as a reward, that is why criminals with evidence stacked against them always rush to be state witness. So what I am saying is that the chap who was in charge of global fund and director of public health should have been prosecuted and not made state witness. All missing funds were ignored but the global fund that this guy stole was recovered by the donor from the poor Zambian taxpayer.
she was benefiting from ama corrupt deals hence jailed but they leave a big fish,and why read a judgement of acquittal all that long
FUUCCK THE ZAMBIAN JUDICIARY. YOU ARE ALL IDDIOTS MFs.
@Shaa.
It had to be that long because they knew Zambian citizens would not believe one word of their judgement.
She went to jail because she was out of the protection ring placed around gov’t officials in the scam. Or in the alternative she offered the judge the wrong type of Microwave Oven as @Mushota suggests judiciary members have a penchant for them!!
It is very disheartening! How can an official use his own company for gov’t services as this kapok did? Conflict of interest.
What do u expect when Kapoko is sata’s relative? That is why there is the family forest to protect them from the law. U remember that isaac chali judge who threw out changala’s sata’s medical review case? He is also one of the family forest maggots. There will be no justice so long as sata is there. MAGGOTS!
This is quite shocking. Even a blind man could seethat Kapoko and his team had stolen! Why are all the curruption cases ending up with acuitals. it is either we do not ave credibal prosecutors or the judges and prosecutors are all corrupt. How can we win the fight against corruption like this. Were are we going as a country? Indeed the Zamban judiciary is stinking with curruption.
Even in South Africa there, my foot, Oscar Pistorius was acquitted by a corrupt judge who took Oscar’s testimony as the whole truth, any other witness was telling lies
Sad verdict and my poor relatives are being arrested and sent away for 7 years for being in possession of pirated music. Hopefully the state will appeal.
The state had better appeal; OR we are all leaving the country! Last citizen out, please turn off the lights and close the door behind you.
I hope this a plan!!
This judgment is a big drawback inthe fight against corruption. It will only encourage peole to steal. It seems the more money you steal the less likely it is to be jailed because judges and prosecutors will be licking you sin soiled boots.
…interesting…no different to Oscar’s saga…. How about his income(salary) verses his wealth..??…did he declare interest on his Company if yes, how do you operate a company within a system where you are one of the senior staff in line of authority as far as contracts are concerned..??..it cannot go without some element of corruption and undue influence….
….verdict from 1000hrs to 2230hrs as if its a coup d’état case..??
The problem in Zambia is that we like talking too much and judging people before they are found guilt everyone is innocent until proven guilty. What we have are failed institutions with ill qualified officers who are just excited when they look at the figures and follow what the people say in the bars then they quickly take the case to court without looking at the facts critically.
Our government officials also are ill qualified they just enter into contracts without studying the contracts and what the law of contract says.
Here the people to blame are government officials who signed the contract, then our ill qualified ACC and DEC these two institutions have failed us they rush to arrest people out of excitment without proper information. Now the tax payers will pay Kapoko big time.
All the scam bags in zambia are good at stealing and dragging the court processes untill all the evidence stolen and in the end criminals are aquictted. These judges are also corrupt. You have heard it from the Chief Justice, why should you doubt. I mean they should be asking these why these guys where allowed to form companies and trade with the employer and loot. If it was a mere moto he would have gone in for a very long time. Look at the guy who was burying money under ground.
@lawyer. We don’t have failed institutions with unqualified prosecutors. The same with the contracts. They know and understand contracts.We are not rushing in with judgements.
Anyone can see clearly the wrongs here. According to law, if a judgement is so illogical as to suggest a normal person would not see it as reasonable then there is cause to conclude the judgement wrong and an appeal can be sought and must be allowed.
The Kapoko chap must be re-tried in another court for an aspect of the charges against him. As suggested a civil case should or ought to be mounted to at least Recoup the lost funds back to the State. Hopefully they will be in time to do so or if out of time present an argument why, so the case be allowed.
yah! yah! you thought the were fools. they knew what they were doing and foreseen the worst case scenario! fyaume infibene Henry, I wonder what that Kabwata impoverished former girlfriend has achieved. it doesnt pay paZed to be a whistleblower. you cud ve been chewing quietly. Thanks for unfeted justices. thats the way to go judges.
Just resently goernmentmade some pronouncements that it will refund the “stolen CDF” without dealing with officers who “stole” the CDF!When we say out the truth such as these revalations of collapsing of the once respected institutions of good governance; we are quickly downtrodden as condenming everything! Zambia really needs institutional;political,economical,social and environmental revolution immediately before 2016 via a resolate constitution.The looting of our finite resources at this political and security dilemma in our country zambia is nuaseating and worrying! I always wonder if at all we have a futuristic president or whether zambia is a cursed country.Please our posterity will judge us harshly!
DPP is wasting a lot of tax payer’s funds and is in need of urgent reform…how on earth can Director be allowed to hold the position and simultaneously run his own law firm. The DPP is now similarly there to protect cartel members….as no big fish has ever been successfully prosecuted and sentenced for corruption.
Unfortunately that only happens in Africa, even Musa Mwenya has a law firm. Only in Africa, Zambia.
As much as such acquittals sounds suspicious and very frustrating we have to try to understand the legal basis on which they are being made. In our legal system one in deemed innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof lies with the prosecution and not with the accused. In cases to do with theft of money or fraud for instance, it is not enough to convict a person because they have acquired assets beyond their means which they can ‘t prove how they funded. For a successful conviction the prosecutor has to prove that the assets where indeed acquired through proceeds of crime. You would think our prosecutors would be true to the this fact and prepare adequately. Such makes one wonder if they are not losing on purpose
I think you are being a little more than patronising here. Your assumption that a ‘societal’ opinion is wrongly held or has no influence on how judiciaries should operate; is what is wrong.
Judiciary must deliver cases to uphold our values. We know ones innocent until proven guilty, however that fact does NOT mean that all acquitted persons ARE innocent. That is why we have the appeal systems; so that cases can be retried again until the correct evidence is provided or to allow cases be tried from another angle.
It is that age old problem. The ‘Adversary style’ of court systems, means that the one who has the best Lawyer team will win. A hungry Defence team will defeat a poor Prosecution Teams Righteous case.
It is the style of hearings the world over that leads to…
11.1 Patriot Abroad..I agree with you that being acquitted does not mean one is innocent. Where I beg to differ is on “Judiciary must deliver cases to uphold our values”. A single society can have varying values hence we have the laws that are meant to set the standard by which we will be governed and interact as a society. It based on theses laws that the judiciary has to make its judgement calls supported by the evidence presented by the prosecution and defence. As I said the burden of proof in our legal system is on the prosecutions. There are other legal systems in which the burden of proof is on the defence to prove their innocence. In such cases Kapotolo and even Liato in his cash case would have both been found guilty as they would have had to prove where they acquired the wealth
@blabla
We the people are saying we want corruption cases to find against criminals. We want the gov’t to lean on the judiciary to deliver more cases against corrupt officials.
In the UK, the gov’t has changed Legal Aid rules to exclude ordinary people being assisted in court. Judges were given new powers to find against people on grounds of ‘own fault.’ Which means rich people with fancy lawyers nearly always win. Housing court cases are speeded up to favour owners against tenants, this as result of housing shortage. Lawyers can no longer do free work in poor communities.
There are ways for the gov’t to subtly change the law to favour more prosecutions.
Thats what we have seen in zambian degrees.poor working culture, corruption,nepotism, stealing and workshops
money talks…….just pay to get acquitted…as i prevoiusly mentioned
there is no law or order.
People we need to understand that if it came to real evidence directly linking Henry Kapoko to the alleged thefts, the state did not actually have it. What was presented before the courts as evidence were procedural improprieties which are normal in administration. It would have been injustice to convict Henry when the man’s position was nowhere near financial decision making. Believe you me in government accounting and finance control no one individual makes decisions alone. If the transactions went through then it was because they were approved by controlling officer (PS) verified and supported by another individual from admini and checked by accounts.
There is no argument there are poor Ethics in the gov’t system.
There may not have been enough evidence to convict Kapoko, but there were Ethical issues which prove our gov’t department systems are poor. Audit and Risk Assessors should have spotted the fact that there was conflict of interest in awarding contracts to Kapoko’s companies. Period. For that reason we need these checks and balances in place in gov’t bodies.
Judiciary must deliver cases to uphold our values. We know ones innocent until proven guilty, however that fact does NOT mean that all acquitted persons ARE innocent. That is why we have the appeal systems; so that cases can be retried again until the correct evidence is provided or to allow cases be tried from another angle.
It is that age old problem. The ‘Adversary style’ of court systems, means that the one who has the best Lawyer team arguments will win. A hungry Defence team will defeat a poor Prosecution Teams Righteous case with counter arguments.
It is the style of hearings the world over that leads to imbalances.
There may not have been enough evidence to convict Kapoko, but there were Ethical issues which prove our gov’t department systems are poor. Audit and Risk…
Audit and Risk Assessors should have spotted the fact that there was conflict of interest in awarding contracts to Kapoko’s companies. Period. For that reason we need these checks and balances in place in gov’t bodies.
PMK, educate me ma brother, isn’t the whole principle of money laundering founded on failure to provide traceable legal sources of your assets? Is it based on the prosecutor’s failure to prove a link between vanished money and one’s assets? Every living Zambian bet is that ka Kapoka, in his entire life, has never legally earned ngwee equaling his assets. If Kapoko’s wealth is not linked to the ZMK4 million has it’s source been traced? If traced, is it legal?
Forensic accounts, where are you? I’m hearing so much about this new breed of accountants in Zambia. What do they do? Are they any different from Auditors.
ACC, you took long to act and gave accused enough time to “prepare” to win the case.
Tax payer’s money goes just like that.