THE UK Court of Appeals dismissed an earlier judgment delivered by High court judge Peter Smith which found second Republican president Frederick Chiluba and seven others liable for theft of US$46million.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals of UK, the equivalent of the Supreme Court in Zambia refused to uphold the verdict of Judge Peter Smith because it had not met the basic minimum requirements for a conviction. The UK Court of Appeals described Judge Smith’s judgment as lacking basic requirements of a decent judgment.

Despite the dismissal by the UK court of Appeal, this is the same judgment which the Zambian attorney general was trying to register in Zambia to be enforced.

According to the judgment of the Court of Appeals made available to the Times of Zambia, Lord Justices Tuckey, Lloyd and Lawrence Collins ruled on July 31, 2008 that the verdict by Judge Smith did not meet the minimum standards of a court trial.

Meer Care & Desai (a law firm), Naynesh Gunvant Desai and Mohamad Iqbal Meer, appealed against the judgment of Justice Smith. Meer Care and Desai, is the law firm that was alleged to have received some money from the Zamtrop account. The attorney general of Zambia was the claimant and respondent in the appeals hearing.

At the time the appeal was being lodged in UK, the same judgment was before the courts of law in Lusaka to secure its enforcement. In delivering judgment in the appeals case, the Lord justices ruled:

“We allow Mr Meer’s appeal against the judge’s finding that he was liable to Zambia in conspiracy and on the basis of dishonest assistance. We will set aside the judge’s orders against Mr Meer and therefore also against Mr Desai and the firm, in both his orders dated 4 May 2007 and 29 June 2007, and we dismiss the claim against Mr Meer, Mr Desai and the firm”.

The court also held that Mr Meer’s appeals against the orders of Mr Justice Peter Smith of 4 May 2007 and 29 June 2007 be allowed. The court also refused an application by the attorney general for leave to appeal to the House of Lords .

The attorney general was also ordered to pay costs of the trial to Mr Meer and Mr Desai and a further four fifths of Mr Meer’s costs of the appeal case. He was further ordered to pay Mr Meer a sum of 300,000 pounds as interim payment on account of costs .

In delivering the Judgment on 31st July 2010 the court stated that;

“This is the judgment of the court. It is given in relation to appeals arising from two orders made by Mr Justice Peter Smith following a long and unusual trial conducted between 31 October 2006 and 27 February 2007.

By the proceedings the attorney general of Zambia, on behalf of the Republic of Zambia, sought to establish civil liability on the part of up to 20 individuals and companies, to make good losses suffered by Zambia as a result of corrupt practices during the term of office of the former president, Dr Frederick Chiluba.

The present appeals are by two of the defendants, partners in the firm of solicitors, Meer Care & Desai, Mr Meer and Mr Desai.’’

The Supreme Court dismissed the findings of the Justice Peter Smith of the High Court when he established that;

“In respect of both conspiracies the judge held that Dr Chiluba, Mr Xavier Chungu and Ms Chibanda all acted in breach of fiduciary duties owed by them to Zambia, and they were also parties to conspiracies to defraud Zambia of money both by the Zamtrop conspiracy and by the BK conspiracy.

In turn, he held that Mr Kabwe (for his part in both conspiracies) and Mr Soriano (as regards the BK conspiracy) were in breach of fiduciary duty and had dishonestly assisted the breaches of fiduciary duty on the part of the primary conspirators, as well as participating in more specific conspiracies relating to the sums which they received or controlled.”

He ordered them to pay US$46million deemed to have been defrauded from the republic of Zambia.

The attornery general sought to register the judgement of Judge Smith in the Zambian courts for it to be enforced.

But on Friday 13th August 2010, High Court Judge, Evans Hamaundu refused to register the London Judgment citing the absence of laws to support such an action.

[Times of Zambia]

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing”
(2 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV).

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

God’s desire is to see you grow and increase in every area of your life—especially in your love for others. That’s because love is the greatest thing, and it is all that matters in eternity.

The book, Love at Last Sight: 30 days to Grow and Deepen Your Closest Relationships by Pastors Kerry and Chris Shook, sums it up perfectly. It says, “At the end of the day—in this all-too-short life we all share, all we really have are relationships with people we love and who love us. In light of relationships, the job and career we set as goals now aren’t really so important; the ladders we try to climb don’t matter so much; the objects we long to possess seem utterly trivial. What really matters in the end is that special look that you share with your spouse, the arms of your child reaching up to you, the quiet comfort of being with a friend who stands by your side in a difficult time.”

Today, I pray that your love continues to grow and build a solid foundation for your faith. I pray that through your connection with the Father, you are strengthened in all of your relationships as you move forward into the life of blessing He has for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father God, thank You for loving me and transforming me into Your image. I invite You to search my heart and mind today. Help me to keep Your plans and purposes first and to love others the way You love me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

– Joel & Victoria Osteen

Former President Frederick Chiluba is saddened by people who want to bring the name of the judiciary in disrepute because the High Court has thrown out an application that sought to register a London High Court judgement which found him and seven others liable for theft of about US$46 million.

In an interview with the Sunday Mail, Dr Chiluba’s spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba said the former President welcomes the verdict by High Court Judge Evans Hamaundu, but is concerned with the innuendos directed at the judiciary.

Mr Mwamba said that it was strange that justice is only seen to been done if judgement is delivered in favour of certain people.

He lashed out at Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata, Transparency International-Zambia and Professor Muna Handulo who have reportedly condemned Judge Hamaundu’s ruling. He said attacks on Judge Hamaundu are disrespectful to the judiciary.

Mr Mwamba urged people who were insinuating that the state had a hand in the High Court decision to respect the judiciary because they too seek services of the court when they are in need.

“We welcome the decision of the court, but we are only sad that some people would like to bring the name of the judiciary into disrepute. Mr Sata himself has been acquitted by the courts, so why can’t he respect the decision of the court,” he said.

Mr Mwamba said it was unfortunate that some people celebrated Judge Peter Smith’s ruling in which he found Dr Chiluba and seven others guilty of theft of US$46 million, when the trial did not encompass principles of fair trial.

The others are Xavier Chungu, Attan Shansonga, Stella Chibanda, Aaron Chungu, Faustin Kabwe, Ireen Kabwe and Francis Kaunda.

Mr Mwamba said it was wrong for the State to proceed with criminal and civil proceedings against the former President at home and in London at the same time.
Mr Mwamba charged that the London trial was unfair because Dr Chiluba had been slapped with a travel ban and his passport had been confiscated due to criminal proceedings against him in Zambia.

He said even if Dr Chiluba had defended himself in the London case it could have prejudiced his case before the Zambian courts.

“The whole process was unfair because Dr Chiluba could not have attended trial in London because his passport had been confiscated. Remember there was a travel ban that was imposed on him,” Mr Mwamba said.

He said despite that Dr Chiluba had refused to acknowledge Judge Smith’s jurisdiction over him, and therefore refused to participate in the court proceedings.

“Dr Chiluba welcomes this judgement (Judge Hamaundu’s) because it upholds the fundamental principle of sovereignty and independence,” Mr Mwamba said.
He said the former President feels vindicated by Judge Hamaundu’s judgement because he had opposed the decision by the State to prosecute its citizens before a foreign court.

Judge Hamaundu threw out an application by the state to register a London High Court judgement which found Dr Chiluba and seven co-defendants guilty of stealing US$46 million through a Zamtrop account.

He said there was no legal provision that allows the direct registration of judgements obtained in superior courts of the United Kingdom court.
[ Zambia Daily mail ]

Nnational Democratic Focus(NDF) president Ben Mwila has described the opinion poll conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on the viability of the pact as factual and urged the two parties in the Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Developemnt (UPND) Pact to accept the outcome as true, failure to which they would be cheating themselves.

Mr Mwila said in an interview yesterday that it was now clear that the top leadership of the UPND were only bent on destroying Mr Hichilema’s political career with their insistence to belong to the pact even after the members of the PF had clearly stated that they would only support Mr Sata for the pact presidency.

He said it was sad that the top leadership in the UPND had deliberately failed to advise Mr Hichilema to leave the pact whose cracks were there for anyone to see.

“I can not see the reason why the UPND should continue imposing themselves on the leadership of the pact when their colleagues in the PF have clearly stated that they will only support Mr Sata,” he said.

Mr Mwila observed that members of the UPND were destroying Mr Hichilema’s political career by clinging on to the pact with the opposition Patriotic PF.

Leadership in Development (LID) director Moses Kalonde said the opinion poll over the pact was factual and that the two parties should ignore it at their own peril.

He said the CPD was a credible organisation whose findings had always proved to be true whenever it conducted an opinion poll.

Mr Kalonde also wondered why the UPND should insist on belonging to the pact when it was clear that the PF no longer even considered them to be their partners.

And former PF) secretary- general Edward Mumbi has asked the two opposition leaders to apologise to Zambians for deceiving the masses that they could work together when they just wanted to use each other for personal gains.

Commenting on the failure of the PF/UPND Pact, he said that Mr Sata wanted to use UPND Members of Parliament for his impeachment motion against President Banda that did not work.

He also alleged that Mr Sata wanted to use the UPND support base to get elected as a president but with the apparent crumbling of the pact, his plans had failed.

But when contacted UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said as far as his party was concerned, it was the people of Zambia that called for the two opposition political parties to enter into a coalition saying the pact was still strong.

Mr Kakoma described all the comments as a strange analysis saying as far as the UPND was concerned, the pact was still strong.
[ Times of Zambia ]