Parliament heard today that government spent $11 million in foreign legal fees in the London court case involving second republican president Fredrick Chiluba.
Justice Deputy Minister Todd to the house that government spent $2.3 million on local legal fees in addition to k1.2 billion.
Mr Chilembo says government spent K305 million in travel expenses for the Attorney General and support staff.
He explained that travel costs for officers from the defunct task force on corruption staff amounted to K211 million.
Mr Chilembo was responding to a question by Solwezi central Member of Parliament Watson Lumba who wanted to know how much money the Government spent in the London Court case involving the Second Republican President in legal fees and travel costs for the Attorney General and support staff,and what the benefit of the case is to the country.
And vice president George Kunda who is also Justice Minister said government did not appeal for the registration of the London judgment in the Zambian courts to avoid incurring more costs in a futile exercise.
He says the Attorney General guided government that it would be an exercise in futility to lodge an appeal for the registration of the London judgment.
The vice president however says government has managed to recover money and property from some of the defendants including Meer Care and Desai and former Zambian ambassador to the US Atan Shansonga.
QFM
And in the end they ended up spending more than the money they intended to recover.How sad :(
AND CHILUBA IS STILL WALKING FREELY IN HIS LATEST SUITS AND PURE SILK TIES ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR HIM BY EXPERTS IN LONDON AND PARIS BUT IF A COMMON MAN STOLE A CHICKEN OR A MAIZE COB HE WOULD GO IN FOR 3 YEARS. ZAMBIA FOR THE RICH PEOPLE.
This story is vague as we are not told the value of what has been recovered so that we get the NET position. The MMD government thinks we, The Zambian People, are as dull as as blind they are and can patronise us at will.
So, Attorney General George Kunda was a fake lawyer afterall, not to have “guided the government that the exercise was in futility”. We then can just speculate that his interest was the allowances which went with this “futile exercise” when the money could have been to good use of poverty reduction in the country.
Shame on RED LIPS George Kunda – necha kukulya calibula mambala iwe.
#3 should read, …….as dull or as blind as they are……
And in the meantime the presido keeps on galavanting and para vending round the globe.
But we know that Britain funded the foreign investigations. The money used to investigate was given by Britain imwe ba mbuli.
Just tell us the money which GRZ used ala. NONSENSE !!!!
Someone who stole a mobile phone was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment with hard labour. The reason then is that the costs were very minimal his case would not have bust the treasury. Animal Farm, welcome to Animal Farm.
#3, You may not be dull and blind, but most Zambian voters are!
Where are Capitalists 3 Errors, Unpatriot, Senior Alien cum Citizen, Veteran Fooll, MMD bumlicker, and others to lecture to us how and why their “Super Dulll, Vice unPrecedented George (Kunda in HichiTonga) was very determined to take the case to the London courts, which he very well knew was a pursuit in futility, yet pursued it with vigour and rigour???
THESE ARE CASES DEC SHOULD VIGOROUSLY FOLLOW, BECAUSE THE CULPRITS HAVE BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION, CONFESSED DECEIVING THE STATE WITH INTENT TO DEFRAUD ZAMBIANS.
THEY SHOULD BE PROSECUTED AND CAGED FOR ROBBERY AND DECEIT.
THEY ARE THIEVES WHO EMBARKED ON A FUTILE EXERCISE TO POCKET GOVERNMENT MONEY.
George Kunda was the Artoney General then, and he was in charge of this case and benefited from this case,,,didnt he know then that this was an excersise in futility…i really dont understand Kundas position on this issue.Its like he is blaming Mwanawasa indirectly
Where is my 64 inch T.V?
Just close the case. enough of ftj. he’ll never be convicted. waste of money.
Let’s invest in fixing the root cause; inadequate internal controls. Fixing the symptoms of corruption is futile as evidenced by kafupi’s case and the only buggers who end up benefiting are the lawyers! It costs a few $millions to computerise our financial accounting and audit systems and overhaul our procedures thereby ensuring greater accountability. Sadly, with the status quo, junior civil servants (Kapoko) and chaps from ZRA will continue amassing billions of kwacha from of out tax money.
#6 It doesn’t matter who funded the exercise – bottom line a lot of money was wasted. Kudos to RB for promptly stopping this rot. Good comments #13
i agree wit #13 we need to sort out our outdated accounting system
TODD, can you tell us how the money released for Mwanawasa’s funeral was utilised you I’diot. Do not tell us about this bullshit?
@16, mukabe come 2011, ask magande noko ichiinyo,uleipusha ine.naliketeko shilya indalama chikala chobe
#13,14 &15: You sincerely believe we can fix root cause when we still are of the belief that the root cause is working for us too? I mean when you say “we” who are you referring to? Kunda and them, I presume?
Zambia sucks!!!! Max Nkole the Former Chairman of the TASK Force has even build a golf course at his estate in Lusaka. A private 18 hole Golf Course. Ask anybody connected to him or ba LT view it. Its not a hidden Golf course and it;s open and operational. How sad. Chioluba stole but the pipo tasked to recover saw an opportunity to also steal through the court case.
#13 & # 15 Spot on, so what have we benefited out of this huge bill??? Nothing, Poor Zambians, Always milked till they drop died. A country with no Priorities.
Padre #18; bottom line is we have endemic corruption in Zambia. It’s commonplace amongst the private/public sectors and those who try to avoid it are deemed ‘dull’ and ‘bo pwalala’. Hence, I see no point in spending $millions (regardless if it’s our cash or donor funds) on futile endless witch hunts. We (civil society, church, the people) need to lobby the Govt to completely overhaul our internal controls and empower the auditor general’s office. Mdm Chifungula does a wonderful job every yr despite inadequate funding yet all her audit findings simply gather dust. Our politicians (from FJT to date) would rather have the existing weak controls because it feeds their dodgy income streams.
Our priorities as a nation are completely haywire. Instead of addressing our core challenges in a pragmatic way, we (civil society, church, the people) prefer to be on the front page of The Post and on phone-in radio programs, insulting each other day and night. Sadly, a large section of our population believe that King Cobra is the man to sort out this mess; really? when he was kafupi’s right hand man for 10yrs! If I had my way, I’d rather give HH benefit of the doubt if we’re looking for change. Otherwise, we might as well stick with the incumbent (FYI I’m a disgruntled UPND sympathiser).
22 indeed if some people believe that FJT was a thief, how can the same people believe that his very right hand man and advisor for 10 (TEN) solid years can come and fight corruption? How can you chose to condemn one thief and leave out the chief partner? With such illogical thinking, you will never taste State House, as the voters are not fools. You nearly fooled the voters in 2008 in the heat of confusion after Levy’s passing but time has passed and they are much wiser now.
If some serpents are not thieves then it follows that FJT is also innocent, so leave the poor guy alone, let him enjoy his retirement.