Convicted former labour minister Austin Liato has been granted a K50 million cash bail pending appeal to the High court with two working sureties in his own recognisance.
Principal magistrate Aridah Chulu in granting bail this morning also ordered Mr Liato to be reporting to Lusaka Central Police every two weeks.
Magitrate Chulu has further ordered Mr. Liato to surrender his passport to the senior clerk of court.
The former labour minister was last week slapped with a two years jail sentence with hard labour after being found guilty of taking pecuniary advantage of money suspected to be proceeds of crime.
This is in the matter in which Mr Liato was facing one count of being in possession of K2.1 billion suspected of being proceeds of crime contrary to section one (1) of the forfeiture of proceeds of crime Act number 19 of 2010 of the laws of Zambia.
The K2.1 billion was unearthed from the ground at his Mwembeshi farm were he had buried it.
He became the first high-profile figure of the previous MMD Government facing corruption charges to be convicted.
[QFM]
He will go into Chim’s Chimbokaila for a longer term on appeal. All is NOT rosy for him.
Let him go. It is not so much money, there are others who have plundered more, he is being made a scapegoat
I feel sorry for him, Mr Liato hung in there you have people on your side, such as myself
Thanks
Are we ever gonna see real justice or will the circus continue.
Here we go again. I would have thought the guy should still be locked up until the appeal proves otherwise. This is what happens everywhere and for sure our judiciary needs an overhaul
Zambia is still running a pro-crooks justice system. Sata will not achieve anything for as long as he has serious parts of the government running a pro-corruption agenda.
50 million for bail is “peanuts” for a case involving billions.
so it is true that justice favours the rich!why shud a straightforward thing be done in such a manner?
Here goes a RICH MAN. It’s the rich man’s world. Sorry my poor guys who store little monies u shall rote in there.
what did liato steal to be labled a thief
Another fool serving sentence outside jail, Zambia is wonderful never stop amuzing me. Zambia has so many criminals serving outside jail and enjoying as if they have not committed any crime, eg kaka katele kalumba, regina chiluba etc. money talks pa zed.
He will win the appeal coz the magistrate used emotions to convict him…there is no offence in one choosing how they save their money… they court failed to prove that the money was stollen and from who???
Please don’t display your ignorance here. No one has the right to keep the money the way they want to. BOZ is the owner of the papers we call money and has stipulated rules of how such can be stored, but can not control how you spend it.
the judiciury only favours the rich??? its a big mistake to release him on bail- the evidence is enough wat apeal is he trying to come up with?
there is no evidence. the state failed to prove that the money was stollen. . . .it was manna from heaven . . . .
with nostalgia, i am seeing a ‘Richard Sakala’ in this guy. He is likely to pay for all the sins of others who have committed worse crimes
Yes those are not jails you can allow a former minister to spend even a night. set him free… he didn’t steal from anybody.
Liato is just being foo,lish, He could have just been serving his two years jail term while appealing the conviction.
There is compelling and overwhelming evidence and chances are that the high court will uphold the conviction or even slap him with a longer custodial sentence. This will even cause him a cardiac arrest and die a convicted criminal.
His lawyers are not being sincere
The bail should have been set at K 2.1 billion\:d/
Mushota you are a fool. How can we let him go? 2billion is a lot of money to just let someone go scott free. Mushota please tell us what amount warrants an arrest since you are saying 2Billion is a small amout to lock someone for? In the western world, where you are, a civil servant is accountable for every penny of tax payers’ money that they spend. Even a 100 dollars is accounted for. Its attitudes like yours that have allowed African leaders to continue to steal and think its okay. Therefore, Mushota, since you have nothing valuable to offer this blog, I suggest you shut up on this on. Unfortunately, the only lips you have that make sense when they open are those between your legs.
Cage Fred Namakando MMembe as well or else let Liato free.He stole from nobody.
I agree with Mushota! Who did Liato steal from anyway? The prosecution is just speculating.they need to say who the money was stolen from.If no-one is missing K2billion then he is innocent.If the glove doesn’t fit you must aquit! On a sad note it shows the poor accounting systems used by government.No wonder Guy Scott can move around with K13million cash.Correct the accounting systems first so in future you will have a case against anyone with suspicious funds.
# 14 & 17…No one ever accused Liato of having stolen from anyone, but being in possession of money suspected to be proceeds of crime. If you truly live in the USA like the flag is showing, you know what i mean…eg. You will not be stealing from anyone if you try selling drugs, but you know the consequences once you are caught
You are right!
Mushota, I love you so…so…much. Get in touch with me @ +260977988876.
iwe pontiff general, mushota is a man. no nerve ka? utukanshana nizi bandulu pa cairo.
I suppose he can push mr Sata to suspend Astida Chulu, get a judge from Malawi and investigate how she reached that judgement.
Mr Liato, please contact Fred Mmembe to get more details on how this route of ‘justice’ works……
 Mushota you are a thief
LOL! You are hilarious!!
thank-you. this is what zambians want, plunderers to go free. the president did what he did because he knew the kind of system that is there in Zambia, but since everyone was against what he did, then you might as well smile about it coz thats what u wanted…infact, this is only the begining!
Pro-corruption justice at work. They should have given this thug 20 years in jail with hard labour to make plundering a really serious crime in zed. But instead, we see the system giving this crook a break from staying in his house for 2 years, and now they have granted him bail so that he could live in comfort with his still undetected thug friends in the MMD.
Liato has the right to appeal and the right to bail pending procedings of the appeal! LAW is not about emotions.
Sad state of affairs, the justice system is for poor shop lifters and other petty thieves, this pig Liato will walk and will never see a month in Prison.Â
Dyonkolamo, that is why there is so much poverty in Zambia. People accept thuggery and stealing as a norm. Zambians cry their lungs out to keep Zambia a Christian nation and yet the things that they adore are punishable as per teachings of the Christian Bible. This hypocricy is madness and completely immature from people who want development.
LT why do refer to Hon Liato as,’convicted former…..but when it comes to Katele Kalumba you are more than happy to just refer to him as former MMD national secretary instead of saying convicted .This biased ,selective labeling .Whats good for Hon Liato is equally applicable to disgraced former MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba.We know he has the right surname.
This is what ka M’membe and Nchito should have done instead of insulting learned judges and rushing to their dull Ukwa president to set a useless tribunal.Whats wrong with you Zambians in Malawi we were going to riot but you Zambians you too docile and foolish.
He will appeal the Jail sentence or the cash and farm house he forfited?
Liato is a lucky man the state should have arrested him for man laundering concealing man in that way proves that the money was not earned in a genuine way.Its not the court to prove under that act but Liato should have told the court where he got the money but he remained quite.its like the police found you with millions of £ in your car boot do you think they will let you go just like that the man should be re arrested and charged for money laundering Iam sure there is a lot more in thisÂ
A criminal offence should be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Being found with money suspected to be proceed of crime is a mere suspicion and prosecution should have gone further to prove the money was stolen. Does the law or central bank prescribe how any amount of money should be kept? If he kept quiet about the source of the money, it still does not amount to money laundering until it is proved. We seem to have serious flaws here and are rushing to convict someone. There are so many people burying money, keeping under matresses etc.
Unfortunately the judge made a lot of mistakes in his judgement therefore Liato will easily win the appeal & sue the State for his properties that were forfeited…
JUDGE CHIKOPO you are a fool.Do not comment on issues that you do not know.The case between DBZ against Zambia Airs was simply about politics.Why did RB fail to nail Fred and Mutembo?The answer is simple!They are inocent.U HATE MC so much but u are rest assured that MC is the presdent of the nation.The under five that u support will NEVER become presdent of anything.
It is okay Nchito and Mmembe are home and using their paper as court room. Nchito and Mmembe even want to bring down the entire justice system to suit themselves and they close allies. For now till the judgement to pay back is follow to the letter we are in trouble. So far Nchito and Mmembe think and are acting as being above the laws of the land. Commenting on cases to details which should be only done in courts for a case still pending to appeal. I bet 14billion is a lot more compared to 2.1billion
#19 and # 20. Save us your ignorance over failure of personal accountability to what one owns and its legal implications. Clearly both of you and others who fail to see the legal ide of issues do not own any asset or things of substance. If one owns any thing, society expects that individual to account for it. To disclose source of ownership satisfactory before society. We dont expect any one to complain or report of loss. In this case state complained that an idividual was holding large sums of money through unconvention methods, depriving state of proper money circulation in the nation and depriving tax there about. Just these two reasons can land one in jail not mentioning economic subotage of holding large amounts cash without reasonable caurse and concealing it.
Let us be serious with these criminal cases,always we hear of appeal,bail given and it become quiet.Criminals continue enjoying the freedom they do not even deserve,alot of examples which people can clearly see.Even my mbuya at home home knows at times asks me about some of these people who were pronounced sentenced but they are in streets longer than even the period of sentece they were given.And if we complain and say our judicial system rotten,corrupt and stinking you call us names.How many times of law do we have anyway?it seems we have one for the rich and for the poor too,osa susha you know it.
zambian judges sucks , depriving us of justice !
i will put up a tribunal very soon.
Pa last, life sucks!
Pilato, lost a bit of weight just 4 days in chibokaila. Am sure you have a lot of stories to tell. Good luck
“He who alleges must proove”. What did Nchito proove?. I do not in anyway condone theft nor do I support half cooked Magistrates and half baked prosecutors. Liato shall win this appeal. He will be paid his K2.7Bn. not K2.1Bn. Plus costs and damages just because of emotional prosecution. Someone should pay for causing such a loss to the state. Judge Chikopa alone may not clean the judiciary.
well ,my comment is do not target on chinese contractors only , they are so many powerful contractors from south african , or any other countries ! open your eyes GRZ , YANGZJIANG CONSTRACTION IS A FAKE COMPANY , THE DIRECTOR IS OLD FOX , XU JIAN XUE (MR ) , pretend he is a professional engineer , but hence he is just english interpreter. he bribed a lot of money and goods to former GRZ , yet he still does that now , he will never stop do that ,because he needs more contracts for his company , he is one of the director at collum coal mines , that company is shameful company to chinese investors , making huge amount of profit but offer lowest wellfare to the employees , he managed to buy alot of luxury house / loft at sydney,perth in Australia ,, and huge amount of money in swiss bank ,
start investigate him now , BA SATA . i know you know him long ago , but fight against curruption does not mean to zambian only , even currupted chinese contrator / indian , whites as long as they commited offence ,do not leave them survive luxury . PF show us you are working , i agree alot of road constructed recently , is now in poor quality , i wonder if the bidder did that because of they did not receive enough money from the budget or they are just doing artificial work to the public to show that they have worked . RDA or concerned authority please have the road work checked before giving people access , because the bidder will say : the road did not get ready , but people have started access . Hence the bidder did that deliberately. they are so many of the stories like this .
As much as I want to see him behind bars, the man is within what the law allows.
Justice does not consider emotions.
Okei…this is0 truly animal farm. Forsoth all animals are equal bt some are more equal than others…drama in da judicial system!
#35 Okay ,you are wanker ,you are the same chaps who are benefiting from Ukwa’s corruption ,it won’t last long like your erection.M’membe and Nchito are criminals who belong to Chimbokaila like it or not you paid Pa Fwaka blogger.
I AGREE WITH YOU WHO ARE SAYING JAIL IS FOR THE POOR PEOPLE
Can this fly in the USA or other developed countries…you know, being found with similar quantity of loot buried in your backyard and unable to explain its assistance? Can it?
Our judicial system is rotten and I wish all the plunderers the best of LUCKY and keep on plundering mother Zambia for the jails are not for you but for us the poor.
A couple of years ago, I was a witness in a copepr theft case. One lebanese was caught with some copper cathodes concealed in his warehouse. I positively identifying the copper that it was property of Mining company XX. The defence team asked me if some cathodes were reported missing from company XX. The clever prosector interjected and requested for the court to convene at the company premises. There were thousands of cathodes and even 100 pieces were to go removed, you’d be unadble to The onus in this matter is on Mr. Liato to prove that the money in qeustion is not a product of crime but that He did some piece works for companies X, Y and Z and he was payed A, B, C million Kwacha. I think we can figure out why he kept quiet when he was put on his defence.