By Patson Chilemba
Former Tourism minister Ronald Chitotela says he did not approach the ACC to enter into a consent judgment with them but they approached him and even sought the intervention of the highest people in government, including late Chief Justice Irene Mambilima and late Director General of Intelligence Samuel Nkhoma, whom he said convinced him to accept the offer.
And the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has seized a property in Silverest area of Chongwe belonging to former Minister of Gender Elizabeth Phiri.
Speaking with Daily Revelation following his acquittal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Court on two charges of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime, Chitotela appealed to the investigating wings to stop what he termed as their habit of identifying people as criminals and wrongdoers before investigating them, saying the end result was what has happened.
“Otherwise you will not look at material evidence that exonerates people because you have already made up your mind. My appeal is that let them investigate a case and then a case must lead them to the suspect, not them by beginning by identifying a suspect and then you start,” Chitotela said, adding it was shocking to him when he was picked up from his home in Kawambwa by the ACC and that the officers did not even know why they were picking him. “It took us the whole day, ACC could not even manage to come up with a charge until they brought up cases that were adjudicated upon in 2019 and said they will try me on the same.”
He said unfortunately he was restrained from commenting on the settlement consent because ACC took an undertaking never to disclose to the public, saying “maybe that is why they have not been telling the truth of the content of the consent.”
He said he did not go to the ACC, but they approached him “after they realised that the cases they were purporting I had committed it was a pure transaction where a company hired vehicles from me and the contract is there and those vehicles are there and those vehicles were working.”
“So to them whenever Veil Construction had a business, it’s not my business. I have no interest in the third party but they hired my vehicles, they hired the company vehicles and paid for those vehicles. But when the ACC then realised they reached out to me and proposed a settlement,” Chitotela said. “I refused. My lawyers refused. They had to engage people at the highest level. If I were to tell you that I was convinced by the late director general of Intelligence Nkhoma and the late Chief Justice. And they told me ‘ba minister why do you want to embarrass the system? Don’t you know that tomorrow you can be a president of this country?’ And I agreed to their proposal and then to turn and say I went and signed a deal with ACC it was a shocker to me. It was a shocker to me. ACC approached me.
“I refused, you can ask my counsel Zimba he is there. You can ask James Matariro who represented me. That’s why they refused and said if you have no evidence let them go to court and offer a no evidence. Until I was convinced by the system and out of being a patriot I agreed to their proposal. How do they change today and accuse me of wrong doing? And that was registered in court and I have kept myself. I have never disclosed, I have never discussed anything.”
Chitotela described as misinformation claims that the settlement amount was K100,000, saying at no point did the consent settlement talk about that amount.
“And I don’t know where people are getting that figure called K100,000,” Chitotela said, but asked to mention how much was the exact figure, he said he was under oath and could not disclose the content of the consent judgement. “But I can tell you that there is nowhere in the consent judgement where it is talking about K100,000. I don’t know where they are getting that figure from.”
Asked if he would seek further legal redress against ACC, Chitotela said he would sit down with his lawyers to review the matter.
“Look, at first they have persecuted me over unfounded claims. I was discharged. They came up with these nine charges, and after they realised they would be losing they came and approached me…I put the interests of the nation first and agreed to the proposal,” Chitotela said, insisting that he would sit with his lawyers to see the way forward. “But my appeal to them is let them fight crime. Let them not fight individuals. You can see that ACC they just have a thing about Chitotela and I am tired, I am a human being.”
He said he was subjected to embarrassment when the commission picked him up from his home in Kawambwa, wondering what exactly they were arresting him for.
“What was I arrested for? I would ask the question…What wrong did I do for me to be picked up in Kawambwa like a common criminal? What wrong did I do? Is serving in government a crime now? Is somebody working as a government official can’t build the house? I was the biggest grain trader in Luapula Province, a fact they have ignored to check,” Chitotela said, and that he was running business and had houses before he became member of parliament. “And then I choose to build a retirement house I have stolen from the state without checking from where I could have stolen? Because the property belongs to Chitotela you assume it is a stolen property? Is that how we are going to work?”
Chitotela argued that if the ACC had done proper investigations, what has happened would not have happened.
“If they had respected the law as we hear that we are going to govern under the rule of law do you think the embarrassment I suffered I could have suffered? These are questions I can’t find answers to,” said Chitotela. “So I am not a tribalist and I don’t subscribe to that. You know that my wife comes from Mwinilunga, North Western. My children are Zambians. That’s why I don’t subscribe to the notion of tribal. But the question I am asking those in authority and investigative wings is what was I arrested for? What wrong did I do? Accepting to be a patriot to their offer becomes a criminal offence?”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Court today freed Chitotela of two charges of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Lusaka principle resident magistrate Jennifer Bwalya said the immunity granted to Chitotela by the ACC to preclude him from prosecution was still in force and proceeding with the matter will be subjecting him to double jeopardy.
Chitotela’s charges were in relation to the acquisition of a house in Ibex Hill and obtaining K500,000 using illegal gains.
But before he could take plea to the two charges, Chitotela’s lawyers Andrew Kombe and Benjamin Mwelwa, raised a preliminary issue.
The lawyers argued that the two counts which Chitotela was charged with were the subject of a consent settlement pursuant to section 80 of the ACC Act no. 3 of 2012.
Kombe submitted that the consent agreement that was entered between ACC and Mr Chitotela indicated that count one and two in the current indictment were counts two and nine of the previous case where the accused and ACC entered a consent settlement.
“Your Honour, we are taken aback as to why the ACC would indict the accused person on the same charges where a consent settlement was made,” he said.
Kombe asked the court to determine whether Chitotela could still be tried on charges which were a subject of the consent agreement.
In a related development, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has seized a property in Silverest area of Chongwe belonging to Phiri.
“The seizure follows investigations the Commission is conducting where it has emerged that the property No. L/23202/M, which was designated for construction of a clinic, was corruptly acquired by Mrs. Phiri contrary to Section 34 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act of No. 3 of 2012,” ACC spokesperson Queen Chibwe stated. “According to the Act, it is an offence for any person to acquire any public property and divert it from its intended use or purpose for their benefit or the benefit of other individuals.”
Chibwe stated that Phiri has since erected two-story house on the Plot which was originally earmarked for construction of a government clinic for the Silverest Community in Chongwe district, and that the Muslim Community had supported the construction of the clinic by donating and sinking a borehole on the plot.
“In 2010, the government had designated the said plot for a clinic but to date, the Silverest community does not have a health facility in the area.
The Commission has since recorded a warn and caution statement from Mrs. Phiri and investigations into the matter are on-going,” stated Chibwe.
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