Zambia Red Cross Society (ZRCS) Acting Secretary General today told the Lusaka Magistrate Court that she had seen boreholes that were sunk in Choma and Sinazongwe for a Water and Sanitation project during an evaluation exercise that was conducted.
This is in a case in which the former Secretary General Charles Mushitu is jointly charged with former Finance Manager Sydney Chituta and is facing two counts of theft and money laundering involving K1.4 billion and for possessing an AK 47 assault rifle.
Mushitu and Chituta on dates unknown but between April 1, 2009 and September 30, 2009 in Lusaka, jointly and whilst acting together with others unknown being servants to Zambia Red Cross Society employed as Secretary General and Finance Manager, respectively, stole K1,417,467, 059.00, the property of the Society.
In the second count, the duo is charged with money laundering contrary to Section 7 of the prohibition and prevention of money laundering Act 74 of the Laws of Zambia.
Before Magistrate Mwaka Mikalile was Patricia Namuka 42, of Lusaka’s PHI area who is the witness in the matter told the court during cross examination that she does not know how the K1.4 billion was stolen and that she has not checked the account or the number of cheques that went into the account in her capacity as Secretary General at the society.
“As the evaluation team we found boreholes that were sunk in both Choma and Sinazongwe and there has not been any complaint from the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) over the boreholes,” she said.
Ms. Namuka also told the court that there has not been, up to date, an audit conducted on the account where the money in question was allegedly stolen.
She further told the court that she does not know how much money must have been stolen and how much money went into the project seeing that some boreholes were sunk in the two areas.
She, however, said that her role in this particular matter was only to sign a document called ‘cash forecast’ adding that her involvement in the matter was very minimal as she found that the project was already running.
Ms. Namuka explained to the court that a cash forecast is a document used to solicit for funds from the their offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and that she was not in a position to know if the request was honoured as she has no documents in her office in the matter.
When asked if she was aware that the IFRC and the Zambia Red Cross Society had reconciled the figures (K1.4 billion) and that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed after reconciling, she said she was not aware.
According to the defence team the purpose of the MoU was for the settlement of an outstanding amount of K488, 450,870 million from the Water and Sanitation project in Choma and Sinazongwe.
Ms. Namuka admitted that the IFRC has not demanded for the money in question and also admitted that representatives from both the IFRC and ZRCS had met in South Africa for one week to iron out the issues concerning the project.
ZANIS
Talk of IGNORANCE & lack of Accountability & WHOLESOME IRRESPONSIBILITY!!!!! As Acting Sec Gen, very much aware that this case was coming up, COULDN’T BE BOTHERED to do as is expected of her?? WHAT IS SHE BEING PAID FOR????? SHE SHOULD BE IN THE DOCK TOO, FOR EARNING MONEY FOR NOTHING!!!!! THAT IS OUTRIGHT FRAUD!!!!!
THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR IS WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE for all the fraud, corruption & malaise in Zed!!!!!!!
She should be the waste boss at those offices if she can not account for all that cash that went out, let alone not taking time to study the documents before going to Court. Has she been bought by the MMD? ni zwa naena.
Whats wrong with us Zambians? A lot of Zambians who occupy higher positions in work places are either found stealing or abuse resources making it difficult to be trusted.No wonder these investors are not giving us good jobs.We are too deep into stealing, wanting to live excessively.It all starts with politicians.
Beside the Liangyu Sen very first explained: “His palm will not be for you to harness harm it? Perhaps you have found who’s going to be so underhand harness?In .
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