FOMRER Labour Minister Austin Liato has asked the Lusaka High Court to order that he be given back his K2.1 million and quash the decision of the subordinate court that sentenced him to a two year jail term after it found him guilty of offending the State by burying the said money at his Mwembeshi farm.
But Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mutembo Nchito urged the court to sustain the conviction and sentence against the former Kaoma Central parliamentarian saying, he failed to disclose the source of his K2.1 million that was suspiciously buried in a chalet at his farm.
Liato who argued through his defence lawyers Patrick Mvunga, Nellie Mutti, Mutemwa Mutemwa and Moses Chitambala told the court that the money in question was legally his as there was no slightest evidence of criminal conduct adduced by the prosecution to the court.
He said the lower court erred in law and fact when it convicted him of the charges and slapped a two years jail term on him because there was no evidence before it that he acquired the said money through proceeds of crime.
Mr Nchito in response urged the court to sustain Liato’s conviction and sentence saying he had no legal claim to the property as he has failed to tell the court its source.
He said although it was Liato’s legal entitlement to opt to remain silent, it was incumbent upon him to at least explain the source of money to show that it was legally obtained.
“There is no doubt that he concealed the money in the most curious way and if it was dug out, it would have been disquished due to humility,” Mr Nchito submitted.
I thought, the man is already in prison, how can he speak from the prisons? No wonder when i call his wife she keeps on cutting my phone,kanshi mambala is still around, when will he go in so we enjoy that beatiful madam???
u are an *****..
you are a fo.ol! screwing where Liato used to,atase!
The nerve of Blob Liato! Jail him already! and break his swollen ankles, he will learn honesty and respect!
@ anyoko, Kanshi nauchitamba bwino. The woman is really beautiful. Liato will cry for her like a pig when he finds you on top.
The amount of money seems too much to come from his present and past earnings. Unless Liato explains when and where he got the money from , and it ties up with the tax he paid in the same period ; he is guilty of tax evasion ,and
also guilty according to the old KK’s anti-corruption act – Period.
Also , to bury such much money is effectively to take it out of circulation , and mostly
destroy it ; as it is unlikely to come out all in usable condition , due to unfavorable conditions underground. If Liato died before the money was found , that money would never have been recovered. This is economic sabotage.
True he has faled to state the source but can someone state the crime that gave him that money? I think sometimes this law ‘suspected to be procedes of crime’ is no good. So someone will just come and say this vehicle you are driving could have been stolen and have you locked up even when there is no complaint of a vehicle having been stolen somewhere? If the DPP can accept that Liato has the right to be silent then someone should prove that that indeed that money is a proceed of crime instead of convicting him only on assumptions. Just my thinking people.
IF THE COURT ALLOW THIS MAN TO GO FREE, THEY WILL SET A PRECIDENT THAT IT IS OK FOR ZAMBIANS TO KEEP HUGE SUMS OF MONEY IN HOMES OR EVEN BURRY IT TO ROTE. ANYONE FOUND WITH SIMILAR OFFENCE WILL JUST HAVE TO RMAIN SILENCE IF ASKED WHERE THEY GOT THE MONEY AND HE WILL BE SET FREE. THESE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS OUR COURTS SHOULD BE CAREFULL WITH. LOOK AT THE CASE OF DORA AND OTHERS REGARDING RECONTESTING PARLIAMENTARY SEATS. THAT LAPSE CAN BE BLAMED ON THE COURTS AND ECZ. ITS LIKE THE CALIBRE OF OUR LEARNED JUDGES WAS VERY MUCH COMPROMISED DURING MMD.
MMD thieves are all the same. Chiluba demanded back his stolen dough. Now his disciple is demanding back stolen loot
kwekwe,i have been following your responses. am afraid,you have no clue what so ever about laws. you just spit out what people on the street say. simple reasoning and you bring it here as a contribution. if law was as simple as your logic tells you then no one would need to go to university to study it. get your own mind and analyse issue with facts and please atleast some basic knowledge of law.
Give him back his money.Nchito failed to prove that the money was stolen and there is no law that bars people from burying money in the garden.This was just a pure witch hunt to divert atention from the corrupt activities PF were embarking on like allowing Sata’s son to buy CCTV cameras at an inflated price,to allow Kabimba to corruptly source oil from Trafalga etc
I thought we have laws which talk about keeping money. Why do we have banks? If the police find me with all that money in my car is it not an offence esp if I don’t disclose how I earned that money? Is it bcoz it involves a politician. Suppose this money was found in a house in Chibolya? How do we know this guy could have hired thugs to steal money or was planning to form a Rebel group? Whether you like it or not Liato, you are going in. Chimbokaila awaits you.
Chikanga frank Lucas buried thousands of dollars outside under a dog house!wat more
So it is now illegal to be rich in Zambia. If happen to get rich overnight, should I expect to be arrested?
If money was missing somewhere and Liato had it, then there are reasons for suspicion.
If no money is missing, then where is the suspicion coming from?
And can one be arrested based on suspicion … without evidence?
All this is a distraction to blind us so we don’t see that Zambia is not moving forward.
#Bufi
Okay, but you have a wife!
mwachikumbwa sana chi fatima ayini. twalinacho ichi mwaice ichi mu grade 4 and 5 pa olympia primary school. just talk to me nicely,kuti twachita organise mdala.
What is bothersome about the banking system is how they will offer less interest than the charges! It is small wonder people keep their clean earnings in private safes. That said I think the prosecution’s duty is to prove their case and not force the defendant to state what they do not know.
Zambia is the only country where the rich thieves are comfortable knowing they would not see the inside of a jail. He even has the audacity to ask for the money back. If it was genuine money why did he not take it to the bank. Who hides 210 million in a chalet. He deserves more charges than he currently has, how about with holding tax, when one of our fellow paupers commits a crime its fast track and a jail sentence, these fools continue to laugh at us even after having stolen our wealth. Find something to keep him in jail so that indeed someone should have sex with his wife every day and probably all his daughters. Even these lawyers have no morales but are just doing so because there was another chalet with money which he is using to pay them. He is a bafoooooooon.
To Amakwebo yapa Nakonde’s thoughts. It appears as though the Fat Guy has finished all the money he was left, Just spending it ku ma legal fees yama Lawyers yakwe nomba alefwaya nashimbi. Bombenikofye inchito imbi balyato. Shilya twalipoka nifilyafine. Pantu nabalependa ku Woodlands teti basumine ukubweshapo just incase they got some including your Garden boy who was witnessing the counting. Nankwe teti abweshe..
Ladies and Gentlemen
I feel this man is just being victimized. Not long ago the Zambian head of state was caught with colossal sums of money in South Africa which he failed to account but to date he has not been prosecuted. I believe Sata ‘s case and Liatos’s case are one and the same but people are not making references to it. In the first place who is the complainant? Where is the money went missing? When the kwacha was undergoing re-basing colossal sums of monies were stolen by the seemingly engineers of Liato’s case but nothing is being said about it. Give him his money and cage Kapoko whose case overwhelming evidence that he stole public funds meant the ministry of health operations. Could i be wrong if i suggested that Kapoko is being protected because PF benefited. YO…
u people should wakeup this man is no thief,they should produce a reasonable proof that he stole the money.how can u jail someone without the proper evidence that he stole the money from so..so..so?
Nice wife Austin,can we share?
What!!! this chap has got even the guts to ask for the public funds he marooned at the expense of the impoverished citizens!! Lock this iidioot!! he started a long time ago even when he was a union leader at Zesco he grossly plundered the funds and was the most corrupt union leader Zesco ever had. PLS cage this animal!
Thats why wormen use lightening creams…men love them women looking like this
damaged african minds. Liato chased his wife for this light skinned woman. twalikwata problem pa zed. Abasungu balisha balitonaula sana with this thinking or light skin is better than dark skin. i can bet my life that 90% of the zambian man or woman would marry a white,arab person given a chance leaving their own kind. with a generation the entire population of zambia would see a change in the indegenour people. after 40 years the whole country would look like liatos wife.
Its not Nchito’s duty indicate the crime thru ehich Ci Liato comited to amas tht money.Truth is failure fr ci Liato acount fr ths money.A precedent must be set here why conceal & bury money?Whsre did he get it?Evn if he ws minster did he get loan?Ws it frm salary?Alowances?Lets verify rmence.Zamtel saga & airport procurement saga ci mai bokosi mai munono waba RB!AAll these criminals must be arested in jail.rds & prove!Otherwise jail tht thief & forfeight tht money to treasury.Evn ci Dora corupt cases must consu
Nchito mupele ulupiya Liato. Bushe lupiya lwakwa noko?
Ba Mwenye nga ba sunga indalama shabo mu n’ganda namu ma sitolo tamubekata umwina zambia afisa pe fwamu lyakwe ati proceeds of crime enfishi?
Lawyers kindly educate us on the difference between English Law and Roman Law. I am meant to believe that in zambia ,one is innocent until proved guilty (English law).I am guilty until I prove my innocence(Roman law).
If the money is earned legitimately and declared to authorities for tax, I don’t think it matters where you opt to keep it. It’s your money. It’s not mandatory to keep your money in the bank. I think the banking system is almost a criminal organisation. Have you noticed how stealthily they part you from your money. The bank charges are always greater than the interest. Every little thing you do to your account, balance inquiry, depositing, withdrawing etc is paid for through the nose. We hardly notice this daylight robbery because the amounts involved are usually small, a few cents at a time but they add up. If it wasn’t more dangerous to keep your money under the pillow, most people wouldn’t open a bank account and authorise the banks to rob them.
I agree. With those rates I ve decided to keep my own money
Give him his money. There is no umlandu for having money.
Bana Liato basuma ahhhhhh…..nangu bali ku N’cala kubalya live!!!
Am not a lawyer but i think liato will win the case,i think there is no law that says we should keep money here or there,money laundering needs evidence,they should have charged him with tax evasion if its criminal,me i dont know!!
“His money”?
It is a big crime to be rich and not pay a richman’s tax. Everyone who owns property , and is not employed should be subjected to a tax audit.
ZRA should prosecute Liato for tax evasion, why is it that government bodies empowered to do specific duties like election and tax are lagging behind than the courts? This was a ZRA case from the beginning, if it was in the UK or USA, Liato’s assets would have been confiscated and sold off for tax evasion and money laundering.
# Patrick Shekela
To the Tax man, you are guilty first if you earn more money beyond your means! You have to explain to them how you earned every dollar through legitimate methods otherwise they can confiscate it as criminal proceeds and prosecute you. That’s why filling tax returns is a headache for most people in UK or USA because any slip up or hiding of assets can land you in jail for a long stretch or they confiscate all your assets and you end up bankrupt. Even in UK, a £20000 cash deposit at the bank rings bells to the tax and police and you have to explain your fortune unless you do the Liato thing. For a former minister he should know, keeping quiet is not the best defense to justify your ownership of an asset in court.
If Liato wants his money back then, he must explain the source of the money. Here in South Africa people especially politicians under go life style audits. The politician expenditure is measured against his income. If the expenditure exceeds the income the politician in question is asked to explain his source of funds. Liato will have to declare the source of the funds. If it was a donation, then he has to give the name of the donor and the donor has to provide proof that the said donation was declared to ZRA. As Zambians we should learn to support that which is lawful and not just anything because the person involved is not PF. If he can not explain the source of the money then it was illegally obtained from some where and he is not entitled to it.
Just wondering why this case has taken too long. Liato has very weak ground probably thus why he chose to be silent. ZRA should apply to join this case to make it more interesting. Genuinely acquired Money should have a trail as it never rains like rain water, Ka 2 yrs is brief bo Liato by now you could have been out.
The Problem is Greedy now you want the proceeds of Crime back to you interesting. On a Technicality Liato can ask to be shown the Evidence K2 bilion old currency and if it has been Changed to (K2million)new notes then he can ask for his freedom as the evidence qualifies as having been tempered with, therefore it cant stand in the Courts of law.