THE Mast Newspaper reports that the Anti-Corruption Commission has suspended investigations officer Chipampe Manda who exonerated Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya by testifying against the commission’s position in a matter where the latter is facing corruption-related charges.
According to ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono, who confirmed the development, Manda has been suspended from duty pending a disciplinary hearing by the Commission for bringing the institution’s name into ridicule.
“Yes, I can confirm that he’s been suspended on account that the evidence he gave in court was contrary to the commission’s position. He’s been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing,” said Moono.
The Anti-Corruption Commission received a backlash from the public who questioned its competence in fighting corruption following Manda’s testimony in court.
Manda told the court that according to his conclusion, as an investigations officer, the K5,542,500, being the total value of the property which was purchased by Dr. Chilufya’s company Henry Courtyard, which is alleged to have been acquired illegally was less than the income of his (Dr. Chilufya) legitimate sources of income.
Manda told chief resident magistrate that he assessed all the bank statements relating to Henry Courtyard limited and summed up the figures for the period December 2016 and April 2019, including cash withdrawals.
He said the analysis was to establish whether Dr Chilufya had the financial capacity to acquire the properties from his known legitimate sources of income.
“I established Dr. Chilufya being a Minister of Health and member of parliament for Mansa Central, the positions come with emoluments. I analyzed his earnings from December 2016 to April 2019 and the earnings in the stated portfolios were K7,760, 852. 25,” Manda explained.
“Dr. Chilufya was a director and shareholder in Henry Courtyard limited, so I decided to analyse the financial activities relating to the company by looking at the bank statements. I summed up the cash withdrawals on the accounts at Cavmont, ZANACO, INDO Zambia Bank and the total was K19,631,757.”
Manda said the total sum of the properties Dr Chilufya is alleged to have acquired through proceeds of crime was K5,542,500 for the purchase of shares in Samfya Marines, Spark guesthouse and a boat, which was way below the income from his genuine business and his salary.
“The K7 million related to his earnings as minister and MP which covers the period December 2016 to December 2019 and from PEMC more than K2 million. As a witness of facts, my conclusion relating to the allegations were that the total value of the assets the minister is accused of were less than his legitimate sources of income. His income was more than what he is alleged to have acquired through proceeds of crime,” said Manda.
In cross-examination by defense lawyers Tutwa Ngulube and Jonas Zimba, Manda confirmed that Dr Chilufya’s earnings were more than what he was accused of obtaining corruptly.
Manda affirmed that after establishing that Dr Chilufya’s earnings were more than what he was alleged to have criminally possessed, he could not conclude that the minister had committed a crime.
When asked if he had established that Dr Chilufya had obtained a loan worth K2 million before he was indicted for corruption related charges, Manda responded in the affirmative.
It’s all the ACC’s fault. Wht sort of people has it been recruiting? Wht internal training and orientation has it been conducting to such staff? Could the young investigator panicked due to stage fright? Has he ever seen an experienced investigator being cross-examined in court? From press reports, the prosecutor did not even bother to re-examine his own witness. But it’s not all lost. The prosecutor could hv applied to court to commit the witness to prison for not telling the court wht he knew.
Mind blowing reason to accuse someone of ‘being in possession of stolen property’. From the report above, its said he was suspected of having bought property above his means……but how then does that equal to being in possession of stolen property??? Hurrumph….! Fraustrating.
LT please check your reports. The fact is that he had been thought to have spent more than his known income which turns out to be untrue. He could only have been in possession of stolen property if he had not exercised ‘buyer beware,’ and if the property was sold by someone who did not own that property, who had misrepresented the sale to Dr Chilufya!
I’m none the wiser!
What is buyer beware?
I miss those career civil servants from the Kaunda days, those days when you ask your friend where his father works and dude will have no clue what his daddy do for living but you see him go for work every morning, those were real shushushuz.
The should charge this Manda from the ACC together with the minister.
If from December 2016 to April 2019 Dr Chilufya earned K7,760,852 it means is average monthly earnings as a Healthy Minister is K267,000. Meaning is monthly salary is even higher than the Republican President’s. Very strange.
So ministers earns this kind of money as monthly salaries when even most CEOs tax paying organisations don’t even come closer to such amounts majority being even less than half of minister’s salaries. How can the nation develop like this honestly?
If K7,760,852 was earned between December 2016 and April 2019 then his monthly salary is K267,000. This means as a minister he even earns a higher salary than the Republican President. Not even CEOs from tax paying organisations come closer to ministers salaries. No wonder development keeps eluding us.
The question I have is, did Manda lie? If he did site him for contempt of court. Or is did he tell the truth but his Superiors wanted him to lie or withhold some info which in a way exonarates chilufya. Limbifye alilufya evidence Pali ba chilufya hahaha
That ACC officer is just a sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat. The case was already dead and going nowhere immediately the Head of State sided with the accused.
Lungu is most likely laughing with chilufya
……these are the types of gimmicks lungu used to use as a lawyer of the crooks in days gone
….make witnesses spew contradicting statements in court.
This is what happens when acc is infiltrated by upnd cadres with agenda to bring down pf. Good he has been rooted out. Upnd brought weak allegations against the minister without proof
The argument that if your earnings from supposedly legitimate sources are higher than what you are suspected to have stolen, therefore you are innocent is bizarre. Corrupt and white collar thieves don’t steal because they are poor or they have none, they steal because they are greedy. They take away from the poor and keep adding to what they already have… they are never satisfied with what they have and that’s what drives them to be thieves. So just adding income and subtracting expenses is simply lazy way of investigating.
Zambia just doesn’t have competent investigators to be able to thoroughly follow up the money trail, and piece together unconnected evidence to arrive at the root of the issue. Or perhaps the thieves just collude with banks and everyone to cover up their…
…Or perhaps the thieves just collude with banks and everyone to cover up their tracks… one or the other or both.
AK@6, u hv put it very well. I do believe myself that Chipampe Manda has a problem. If I’m wrong, maybe he felt intimidated under cross-examination and ended up saying wht he shouldn’t hv said. But court officials are trained to observe the demeanour of witnesses as they testify. Liars are easy to spot. I expect the ACC to sack him and then he will sue them. That should provide first-class entertainment. But how does the ACC deploy a young investigator on so big a case? I hope there were more senior people on this case.
The case when you appoint Cadres in influential offices
Poverty vis-a-vis integrity.
There holes in ACC officer’s testimony.
Firstly there is no mention of how much the minister of health earns per month.
The only thing important in collapsing the case is the fact that he got a K2million loan from the bank(fact). But how was the K2million spent?
This what is known as a hostile witness, these witnesses are common in serious criminal proceedings, like murder, organized crime (mafia) drugs, terrorism, kidnapping etc.
Usually two scenarios are at play in a prosecution witness being hostile, it’s either his life or that of his family is in grave danger or he has been bribed.
@AK, Ministers may earn more than the President. They have their MP salaries and seating allowance which sometimes is more than their salary as MPs.
Additionally, the minister also gets his salary from the ministry, and additional allowances from the job.
Look at this below by none other than Antonio Mwanza.
Sitting allowance: K3, 000 per sitting. Multiply that by 4 sittings per week, it comes to K12, 000 per month per MP. And if an MP sits in two committees he walks away with K9, 000 per day.
So in a month, one MP gets a whooping K48, 000 in allowances alone. Add a Salary of about K31, 000 to that, plus Accommodation allowance which is calculated at K500 per day plus upkeep allowance, plus tax free beer and food, the total amount we are spending to service one MP comes to a gigantic K100, 000 per month.
Cadres are placed in positions to protect and defend.
Chitalu seats on a number of committees as an MP, safe to say he takes a minimum of 15,000 from those parliamentary committees, plus his salary of 31000 monthly, and the seating allowance of 48000? 94000 monthly.
That’s not to say anything of his hefty salary as a minister and the allowances that come with it, such as driving to work, lol.
I think money has been spent to buy Chipampe Manda to junk the evidence that made the ACC go to court. This looks unprecedented in the history of the ACC. I hope from this bitter experience they will be more careful whn recruiting staff and sht to do whn preparing to go to court.
@NAIWE A warning that notifies a buyer that the goods he or she is buying are “as is,” or subject to all defects. When a sale is subject to this warning the purchaser assumes the risk that the product might be either defective or unsuitable to his or her needs.
“H² is a pompous, good for nothing tribalist- Kambwili – October 13, 2015.”
That said, I think Moono is losing it here. Manda should straight up sue this moonolistic unbecoming behavior. Moono, calm down. Innocent until proven otherwise, remember? Looks like you’re eyeing a straight up conviction. Well prove you case.
Court games aren’t fair. They don’t judge men by their worth, and they aren’t about what’s just. Guilty men can hold power their whole lives and be wept for when they pass. Innocent men can be spent like coins because it’s convenient. You don’t have to have sinned for them to ruin you. If your destruction is useful to them, you’ll be destroyed.
Daniel Abraham
A f001 will always think that CC only started earning from when he became minister. This is another miss ACC.
Huge sums involved yes. An account has been given. It’s up to investigators to prove or disprove Manda’s account.
I am rich. When I enter active politics, I should declare my assets.
I don’t need a damn impotent ACC to without proper evidence to poke their nose into my business.
Well, before suspending the fellow, you should have given out your well investigated side of the story.
There’s a mixture of legal crookedness and Luapula witchcraft in this matter. The problem in Zambia is that the neither the ACC nor the Judiciary are clean. They’re all in the pockets of those who have accumulated dirty money- no chance for justice to prevail. So don’t think doctors can’t practice witchcraft.
All institutions corrupted, nowhere to go
STUPID, we need to just disolve all these insitutions. 7 Million as Minister? whats his salary?
I guess some cases are best left to the courts of Law before we make any personal judgements .
No no no no.
You simply can’t take the matter to court without proper evidence.
ACC needs proper and serious prosecutors and detectives.
Sounds like they touched the ground in this issue.
Next they would be buying for more time to gather evidence.
Following
STUPID, we need to just disolve all these insitutions. You can’t take the matter to court without proper evidence.
Fire this Manda guy!
@Naimwe, buyer beware is, ‘The common law principle of caveat emptor, “let the buyer beware”, means that the onus is on a buyer to find out everything he wants or needs to know about a property before becoming committed to buying it i.e. prior to exchange of contracts.’
At this stage let the Court process proceed without speculative-laden comments from the general public. What is of interest is: WHO REPORTED CORRUPT ACTIVITIES OF DR. CHILUFYA TO THE AAC? We hope the AAC will line up their source of information to consolidate their case in the Courts of Law.
At this stage, it is best best to let Court proceedings progress without any speculative-laden comments by the general public. Someone or group of people reported Dr. Chilufya’s alleged corruption activities to the ACC. We hope the ACC will line-up its witnesses to consolidate their case in Courts of Law.
So the prosecuting lawyers cannot just collaborate this income with his tax payments? I want to believe the only person in Cabinet that by Zambian Law only the Republican President does not pay tax? Some of these processes are not rocket science please!!!!!!
There’s a problem inside the ACC. The prosecutors are making blunders in their work. In the Chitotela case, the ACC prosecutor saw it fit not to call to court the Chinese construction company which paid the money. Instead he relied on the testimony of the bank officer whose organisation merely received instructions to pay. The construction company should hv been a witness for the ACC because there’s a reason why it paid the money.
ACC has a historical problem of tribal prosecutions; they are comfortable persecuting anyone from the Northern and Eastern side of Zambia. President Chiluba was persecuted for 7 years and only to be acquitted after a long court case championed by a tribal regime. ACC seem to get instructions from certain tribes whom they want to pacify. That pacification and persecution of bembaland politicians has a very high price tag; this hatred driven court case will cost the tribal opposition not less than 3 million votes. Generally we don’t comment on ongoing court cases because of subjudice rules, but hatred driven online publications like ZWD are imploring the ACC to “find the evidence”. This is a mockery of justice.