The Lusaka High Court has acquitted Directors of the defunct Access Financial Services Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe of the offence of being in possession of property reasonably suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained.
The court has upheld Mr Kabwe and Chungu’s appeal and set aside the Magistrate judgment which convicted the duo.
In a judgment by a panel of Judges Banda -Bobo, Betty Mungomba and Mwila Chitabo, State Counsel, the court has deemed the convictions of the two under counts 11 and 12 unsafe and set them at liberty forthwith.
The court found that there was no basis upon which the trial Magistrate could have convicted the appellants for the offence of being in possession of property reasonably suspected of having been stolen or unlawfully obtained.
The judges found that the only misdirection from the evidence is failure by the trial magistrate to consider the explanation given by the appellants in the defence.
They ruled that the trial magistrate would have inevitably come to the conclusion that the explanation given was a reasonable explanation if he had taken into account the duo’s submissions.
Citing the authority of Maseka versus the People and Kalonga versus the people, the judges found that the explanation by the appellants satisfied the criteria of the being reasonably possible or could reasonably have been true.
The court has granted leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
This is an appeal case from the Magistrate court against both the conviction and sentence of Mr Kabwe and Mr Chungu to a term of three years with hard labour.
This report is not complete when was he sentenced?, now what for this duo? Come on people we need more information
Which property was deemed to have been obtained? fake news!!
Some people are luck or have judicial connection????
agree with you! There is stolen property, or property whose source cannot be verified. This property belongs to the Zambian people! No justice for the poor masses
Justice delayed…….
How? Mwanawasa should not have died sure. There must have been a lot of behind the scene maneuvers for these guys to get acquitted
This case was just cooked up by persecutors of FTJC, to finish him politically by those who took over from him.
Today thieves walk free and the innocent rot in jail in Zambia!
These people helped steal millions of taxpayers money. Tomorrow they will be given jobs hiding PF looters ill gotten gains.
Justice and the Rule of Law have been killed by Lungu and his corruption.
…ofcourse, you should be asking why Mutembo Nchito and Mark Chona were paid millions of dollars, given over 10 years to work but left a lot of loose ends!!!!
Rule of law is not dead. That’s why all law breakers are behind bars.
Next to be acquitted in PF government will be Richard Sakala though he served a sentence and carries a title former CONVICT.
These cases have taken very long such that wen judgement is passed,only few can remember. I thought the guys are serving or have served and are out. JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED DOESN’T SEEM TO APPLY IN THE JUDICIARY
Story is half baked
All this is a result of a badly put together anti-corruption crusade which has yielded nothing after spending over 10 years persecuting individuals and millions of dollars of taxpayes and donor aid. If Mwanawasa had applied tact and reason, that funding would have gone to create a more organised and effective crime fighting unit which would still be standing today regardless of who comes to power. Had he put together the best brains in the judiciary and other security wings, funded it like that useless Task Force on Corruption, together with the technical support the westerners gave us, we would have a strong institution like the FBI or Scotland Yard.
That’s Mwanawasa legacy of persecution and hatred against certain individuals who were close to FTJC, bwana.Friends from outside the judiciary were brought in to ensured FTJC was finished.What we are seeing today, in terms of development was initiated by the first MMD government, shopping malls are all over, roads made etc.One thing I like RB is that he eased the tension and hatred Mwanawasa created.
Investigate storry of an ICT teacher at Lulamba primary school in kiwe who defiled a grade 8 of the same school during classes he locked her up in his office this happened on monday this week by the time police from riverside got there he had run away and is still on the run he resides in Kawama township in kitwe he is a father of twins