A Kawambwa Magistrates court has denied bail to a 36-year-old man accused of stealing over K900 million from the Food Reserve Agency( FRA.)
The money was meant for purchase of 15, 000 x 50 kilogrammes of White maize from farmers by the Agency.
This is in a matter where John Mwape 36 of Kawambwa district in Chief Munkanta’s area is jointly charged with Martin Sichone 29 and Mary Chikotwe 23 of the same area.
The trio is charged with theft by agent contrary to section 272 and 280 (b) chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars before the court are that Mwape and his co–accused while acting together on unknown date but between June 1, 2008 and February 28, 2009 allegedly diverted K949, 620, 000.00 to their personal use.
The money was given to them by FRA and was meant to purchase 15, 000 x 50 Kg of white maize.
But Mwape, Sichone and Chikotwe while working as FRA depot manager, Supervisor and clerk respectively allegedly misappropriated the funds.
However, when they appealed for plea before Kawambwa Magistrate, Felix Kaoma, the trio denied the charge.
Meanwhile, Sichone and Chikotwe, who are reportedly on the run have been charged with another count of false accounting contrary to section 326 (a) chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
The duo allegedly fraudulently forged documents purporting that 13,000 x 50 Kg bags of white maize were transported to a FRA depot in Mwembeshi from the Kawambwa depot.
But in their submissions the trio appealed for bail, which was denied by Magistrate Kaoma.
When passing the ruling, Magistrate Kaoma said the court would not grant them bail citing possible jumping as all were apprehended whilst on the run.
The three will appear in court for mention and trial on June 10 and June 15, 2009 respectively.
zambians bapena mukwiba, its very sad that its all we are reading of the media.its shameful.. just hope we wont have a reputation as that of nigerians
Stealing has become a cancer in Zambia. something is wrong somewhere. There is need for a remedy to cure this cancer!
No I it is wrong to single out Nigerians on this. Yes Nigerian are known to be corrupt by it is not all Nigerians. There is also a difference between corruption and stealing. In zambia people are stealing . As Zambians we are busy stealing from ourselves- taking our country backwards. It is a shame.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
In the colonial days, Zambians used to steal from the BOMA to spite the Colonialists. The sad part is now we are the BOMA and not the British. We are stealing from ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot basically. Shibukeni
the fact is they have a reputation and my concern is simply that as zambians we dont fall in the same. world wide nigerians are known for miscellanous bussinesses..
When I went to school the motto was “work hard and you will become somebody.”
It seems they changed the motto to “steal hard…”
The precedence has already been set: ba Chiluba, abakalamba ba chinto bonse, ba Katele, ba Siliya nama Chinese, ba Regina (nobu ule po) ni bonse ba MOH, now BAKAMUSHI. Kumushi was the last place to think of theft. Now, the DISEASE has infected the whole society. It has spread like wild fire> ZAMBIANs GONE WILD. Everyone is stealing public property and funds. The national has disintegrated into lawlessness. We do not have a leadership. Our morals have become filthy. Talk of sex, it is the same thing. Talk of banks, it is the same thing. You cannot leave a lot of money in accounts in Zambia banks and peacefully live outside the country that you gonna find the money. Ama bank workers, they will steal and use it on prostitutes and beer.
Its no longer shocking, but, how what sort of accounting system do we have in government and its institutions? How can people steal One Billion Kwacha in Kawambwa when such money is suppossed to be in the bank with all purchases being done through cheque payment. Was this money remitted to the depot without any supervision?
It is really so embarassing to say the least and the government has a very big task on their hands.
Lets just hope the President will not start saying that this theft happened before he took over instead of being proactive in the fight against theft of government resources. Well, he is part of the thieving culture, is he not?
What’s really going on in our country,people are stealing billions now,i don’t think the kwacha has lost so much value that 1 billion is nothing,ah ah ah!
We njust need to put measure in place to make it difficult to steal and to be corupt period. Avoid cash transactions period. Book the calprits early not untill all the money is gone. Sad for the poor people.
#7, I think that is where our mentors got it wrong. It should have been, go and learn how to think.
Ketuvim quote ” Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
When will you thieves ever learn that what you steal will never be yours. This thieving culture is endemic in zed , this is what puts me off investing in zambia. Stealing just for the fun of it or to fund feign lifestyles is probably why theres too much corruption. Why can’t people work hard for the things they desire
These are clear signs that Zambians have completely lost confidence in the MMD Overeducate government. People have no sense of belonging any more. The Despair is there for everyone to see. Anyone who has access to money does not care any more simply because all organs of the state are seen to be corrupt including the judiciary.
Nobody feels any sense of loss any more however much money is stolen. Kufilila munsenga
Maybe thats why people are now moving to ZWD. Why should my comment be swallowed. Infringement of my right to be heard or what?
Let it be known that the Zambian people have resorted to stealing with impunity because they have lost confidence in the systems of governance including the Judiciary. They have lost all hope of acquiring basic necessities of life lawfully because their leaders are apparently busy scheming how to get the highest sums of money from the treasury through corruption when the general populace are wallowing in poverty.
All Zambians are hearing now are RP Capital scams, K10bn goes missing unnoticed, Hearses purchased by nobody knows who, Teta K2.5bn, Henry GMO, RB Mobile Hospitals, Cops steal Mealie meal and are let off scot free, Northern K400m, Eastern 925m, Kawambwa K200m, the list is endless.
Surely who would have hope in the system with such a scenario.
ALA UBUNTUGWA MU ZAMBIA.Every is busy stealing in the government from the head to the toe.Ubuntungwa bwa sangwapo ebo ba Rb baletele.Hard times ahead believe me you.
just cage this chap..we are tired of thieves living luxuriously.people should work hard for their money not just stealing…
How do you trust any body with such cash/ Dig deeper you will find this was arranged by some insider. This was very common in NABOARD. We are in trouble- people now just like a dog on a heat.