By Mubanga Mubanga
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says it is shocked with the acquittal of former Home Affairs minister Steven Kampyongo and former Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo.
Last week, the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court convicted and sentenced Kampyongo’s wife, Wanziya Chirwa to 3-years simple imprisonment after she was found guilty of being in possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime.
Kampyongo was jointly charged with wife.
The court however, acquitted Kampyongo in four counts where he was facing the same charges while his wife had been acquitted in four other charges.
In this matter, Kampyongo and his wife were facing 12 counts of possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime worth over K26 million before the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.
In a related development, Lusambo was acquitted of three counts of attempting to interfere with witnesses.
Lusaka Magistrate Trevor Kasanda acquitted Lusambo in all three counts of attempting to interfere with witnesses.
But in a statement issued yesterday, ACC head of Corporate Communication Timothy Moono stated that the commission was shocked with the decision of the courts and would launch an appeal against the acquittals of the two government officials.
“The Anti-Corruption Commission is set to appeal the acquittal of former Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo and former Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo,” Moono stated. “The Commission is shocked with the decisions of the Courts and as such being dissatisfied with the outcome of these two matters. It is currently studying the judgements and will soon launch the appeals in the interest of justice.”
Moono stated that the ACC felt that magistrate Trevor Kasanda erred by acquitting Lusambo.
“In his judgment, Lusaka Magistrate Trevor Kasanda ruled that the prosecution team had failed to prove their case and acquitted Lusambo on all three counts,” Moono stated.
He stated that the Commission felt that the Courts seized with the conduct of the two cases erred by acquitting the accused and will soon frame its grounds of appeal and launch the appeal in the higher court.
Moono explained that Lusambo was earlier arrested by ACC for possession of property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
“However, in the course of this matter which was already before the courts of law, it was alleged that Lusambo had, with intent to obstruct the due course of justice, endeavored to dissuade or prevent three witnesses from giving evidence before a court of law,” Moono stated.
He state that Lusambo was subsequently arrested by the commission for the subject offense.
