Convict Chiluba and his co-accused over US$500,000

The court should convict Second Republican president, Frederick Chiluba and his two co-accused persons, former directors of Access Financial Services (AFS), Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu on all the 12 counts they are each charged with, the state submitted June 19. The State says the evidence before the court has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused persons committed the offences under each count in respect of which they are charged.

This is in the case in which Chiluba, Chungu and Kabwe are charged with theft of public funds amounting to over US$500, 000.

The State submitted that the monies were paid out in favour of beneficiaries other than the Government, or deposited in private accounts a conversion, which coincided with an intention to permanently deprive the Government from use or enjoyment of the funds. The State also submitted that according to the meaning of section 21 of the Penal Code all parties to a common unlawful purpose are liable as principal offenders irrespective of the role played in the joint enterprise.

Further the State has proposed that the court deals with these counts together especially that the evidence relating to these counts is largely identical.

“ This honourable court, may thus if the evidence before it warrants, convict the three accused persons either in counts one to three or counts four to six as principal offenders, even though they were not all perpetrators of the crime,” reads the submissions.

Task Force prosecutor Mutembo Nchito submitted that in the above counts, Kabwe and Chungu were the principal offenders while Chiluba was an accessory before the fact as he procured the commissioned offences charged in the said counts according to section 21 (2) of the Penal Code. He submitted that in counts seven, eight and nine actus reas in these counts occurred through the fraudulent conversion of Government funds to the Zamtrop account for the use of Chiluba’s children.

Nchito further submitted that Chiluba was liable to be convicted as a principal offender either on the basis of the principal of joint unlawful purpose with person here not indicated or for procuring the offence in counts seven to nine.

“The evidence before this court is that, that was a Government account and that all the monies in it ought to be treated as such, we wish to stress that the payments to Chiluba’s children were made out of the Zamtrop account, the defence ought to show that monies paid to his children were private sources,” read the submissions.

And in counts 10 through to 12, the State submitted that the transactions involved in these counts were similar to those involving counts one to six in that each transaction was a perfect replica of the others. He submitted that at the time the conversion of the funds took place the accused persons intended indefinitely to exclude the Government from enjoying its rights to the monies alleged to have been stolen.

“The fact that Kabwe and Chungu did not want to keep a ledger at AFS to replicate the ledger at Meer Care and Desai, the State submit that the action of the two indicated that they did not want these transactions to ever come to light since stolen Government funds were laundered through this account,” he stated.

The State submitted that the circumstances in the case revealed a joint unlawful purpose between Chiluba and his co accused persons as there was clear intention to divert Government funds to procure properties for Vincent Malambo and Eric Silwamba by Chiluba as promises although he might not be directly involved in actus reas.

Earlier, Chiluba submitted that the case be dismissed because it appears to be novel and a mere fiction. Chiluba said this in his final defence submissions filed in court by his lawyers, Robert Simeza and John Sangwa. Judgment has been set for July 20.