Former President Rupiah Banda’s international lawyer Robert Amsterdam has welcomed the acquittal of Mr Banda on corruption charges.
Last week, the Lusaka High Court dismissed a case that was brought against Mr Banda accusing him of benefitting from an oil deal with Nigeria.
His international lawyer Robert Amsterdam said the outcome of the case is important as it will help restore judicial independence in Zambia.
“Anyone who’s followed the trial realised that it was – as we had said always – political prosecution,” Mr Amsterdam said.
“There was no substance to it. Clearly this was a vestige of a political grudge from President Sata, combined with a prosecutor who spent more time worrying about trying to slay political opponents than he did about rule of law.”
“I hope those who shout aggressively about corruption start to recognise that not every corruption prosecution is good for either democracy or the rule of law,” Mr Amsterdam said.
“We need to stop prosecutions that are done as international campaigns to make donors happy.”
If Bwezani is not corrupt then the sky isn’t blue. It’s all an illusion.
bwezani was acquited in bar !!!,,, i found jameson drinking ,,, later my friend @Nostradamus passed thru, bought us( including Jamesson) 4 rounds,,, jamesson lost it! drank and pronunced the acquited of bwezani,,,, just imagine we talking about malilo aba Dr manda,,, from noway RB accquited !!!! my friend @Nostradamsu was shocked and drove off
Its the inept & incompetent Judge Banda who “fled” Banda aka RB.
The BANDITS persecuted the DDP Mutembo Nchito who investigated this issue by suspending him. Just for mere politics, PF tribunal might even now find Nchito innocent so long RBs immunity is back. The $2.5 billion is vanished from the poor Zambians wallowing in poverty.
Its this same PF which removed RBs immunity, now they ululating his “acquittal” is shocking! All PF MPs voted for RBs to be probed for corruption will et al MMD BANDITS.
Sata is now vindicated when he said that, “My MPs are useless”. Nchito was ratified by these same PF MPs. Even Pilato is vindicated.
As for Amsterdam, its birds of a feather flock together as expected by bandits!
The Skeleton Key
~206~
BAND(a)ITS!
‘In a false quarrel, there is no true valour.’ Wm Shakespeare
Toasting the very people he referred to as Useful *****s?
This is typical, in Zambia we celebrate, toast and emulate those that are corrupt and do not earn their money through hard work as heroes.
This has set a precedence in most organizations and is now an accepted norm in society.
As long as those that are corrupt are not brought to justice, we will forever remain as a corrupt country while resources meant to benefit the poorest of the poor remain in the pockets of a corrupt few
Rupiah is always laughing like a fool because he tries to pretend he is happy when in fact he isn’t. You cannot be so corrupt like him and have a free mind.
Banda and Lungu have one thing in common- the love for alcohol.
Banda was ever drinking beer at statehouse, like a teenager! Zambia is now finished!
Stop cursin and start blessing your ountry if you love it.
I wonder how much stolen money found its way into the so-called lawyer’s pockets
@ Mr Amsterdam said, I hope those who shout aggressively about corruption start to recognise that not every corruption prosecution is good for either democracy or the rule of law,”
THIS IS AN INDICATOR THAT ZAMBIAN LAW IS FOR THE RICH AND NAMES KNOWN BY PEOPLE IN LAW.
TOOTHLESS ACC AND THEY JUST SWALLOWING TAX PAYER’S MONEY
If RB was corrupt he would not have left $3 billion as foreign reserves when he left office in 2011. The Zambian economy under RB was solvent and he was able to bring down the price of mealie meal because he was able to produce bumper harvests and was able to build infrastructure without removing subsidies on mealie meal and fuel. The people who accused RB of corruption ironically were membe and Nchito who actually owe the Zambian people millions and people such as Kabimba with his dodgy Transfigura deals and Sata who obtained many houses in Lusaka fraudulently and who unashamedly handled all road contracts whilst president in his bedroom and handed his concubine Kaseba a slash fund of $1 million. If RB was still president of Zambia, we would not be accruing unsustainable levels of debt.
uleumfwa insoni bu colour bobe before you yap dung. the people you are glorifying are enjoying life out of HEMCS’s sweat and toil. stop being cheap, discuss issues not rotten garbage.
What exactly is the point you are making? Muzinvelako nsoni ngati mukangiwa kupanga ma points yali clear and coherent. I know Kaseba enjoyed herself from Sata’s infidelity and corruption which gave her an unconstitutional $1 million for the non-existent office of the first lady and even Membe was not paying taxes to ZRA under the nose of Sata’s rule. Nchito was made DPP even though he had committed forgery and Kabimba put two fingers up at the ACC when they wanted to investigate his alleged oil corruption by refusing to answer any questions and physically threatening ACC officers by arriving at their offices with unruly cadres. In addition, Sata admonished the ACC for investigating ministers without his approval. Is that the sweat and toil you are talking about?
Didn’t HH work with Amsterdam and Sikota in reporting the Sata administration in its persecution and witch hunting of RB in 2013. Now RB gets acquitted and all of a sudden UPND are shouting ‘wako ni wako’ despite the fact that the star prosecution personally imported at great cost by the tax payer by the dpp himself exonerated the former president.
Its called rule of law so respect the verdict that acquitted Rupia Banda.Rule of law,not rule of emotions.
If anyone who disagrees with the outcome has any sense or respect for order/civility they should take their case and their evidence before a court of law.
Innuendo,tribalism,partyism or hate should have no bearing on how we blog on this acquittal.
Congrats RB on your deserved acquittal and now we need to act on such abuse of prosecutorial powers.
That case was a waste of public funds by PF purely for political witch hunt.Our new constitution should curtail and punish such abuse of office for political aims.
Well said Amsterdam.
This was going to be the first time that a deal without oil was going to qualify as an oil deal. It was going to be the first time that an oil supplier was going to supply oil and pay for it, for the benefit of the receiver. Mutembo posses lots of hate for Rupiah.
The case did not make sense.
Mutembo Nchito litole
RB and Amstadarm are corrupt to the core. Why is president Lungu embracing such characters, who besides, celebrating the death of president Sata are accusing him of political prosecution and persecution. Where is the Sata legacy on which Lungu rode to become president? I’m getting chocked by the callous manner in which all sorts of characters whom president would not have tolerated for their corruption and other uncalled for activities, are coming out with glee.
Are you talking about the same Sata who would not allow ACC to investigate Kabimba and actually admonished the organisation for investigating his ministers without his permission. The same Sata who gave Kaseba (a woman he never legally married) $1 million to gallavant and smile around the world? The same Sata who was dealing with RDA contracts single handedly without any form of transparency? It is true that some Zambians have a memory of a gold fish. Why would anybody would to carry on with Sata’s legacy when all it brought was the devaluation of the Kwacha, tribalism and Bemba hegemony? What did Sata do with the $3billion that the supposedly corrupt RB left in the country’s coffer which I might add was the largest amount of reserves the country had ever had since independence?