By Staff Reporter
Lusaka lawyer Frank Gwaba has disclosed that he was reprimanded by former Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Thom Shamakamba for refusing to delete a Facebook post in which he accused Solicitor General Marshal Muchende of abuse of office after he reported him to the Commission for corruption.
In his witness statement filed before the Ndola High Court in a matter Shamakamba has sued Daily Revelation editor-in-chief Patson Chilemba, former ACC board member and University of Zambia lecturer Dr O’brien Kaaba and Daily Standard Multimedia Limited for libel demanding over US $500 million, Gwaba recounted how Shamakamba threatened him and refused to investigate Muchende over a Facebook post where he had accused the Solicitor General of corruption.
He submitted that on November 17, 2023, he reported Muchende for corruption pertaining to his conduct in collusion with his then clients, Maba Medical Limited, to deprive him of agreed legal fees after he had performed as per agreed retainer.
Gwaba had accused Muchende of circumventing him owing to his privileged position as Solicitor General, that enabled him to know how and when the government would be paying its creditors, that included his then clients.
He charged that Muchende, owing to the privileged information he had, decided to contact his clients behind his back and lured them to cease his representation 10 months or so after he had performed by managing to get the government, through its chief state advocate, to write to him to cease conduct of that matter.
Gwaba submitted that when his client withdrew instructions, he immediately demanded for the full payment of his legal fees, which his client refused to honour up to date despite numerous efforts to get his money.
“I, therefore, reported Mr Muchende to the Anti-Corruption Commission owing to his perceived defiance of the instruction by the Attorney General for their chambers to pay what had remained as the balance of USD 800,000 through our chambers to enable us get our legal fees after we had established Maba Medicals Limited indebtedness to us to Attorney General as demanded,” he submitted.
But after reporting Muchende to ACC for abuse of office, Gwaba stated that Shamakamba, whom he had spent a considerable amount of time with at his office outlining Muchende’s collusion, called him later to reprimand him over a social media post he had made a month earlier titled, “HH, Please save us against Marshall Muchende’s corruption, it’s unbearable.”
However, Gwaba indicated to Shamakamba that what was riling him was some old post that he had deliberately left on his Facebook Page for all to see, and that he had “a not so pleasant exchange” with the former ACC director general over his refusal to remove the posting.
He stated that Shamakamba threatened not to attend to his complaint despite earlier assuring him of its merit.
“From that day of the phone call, I never heard from the Director General again. Even when I tried contacting him as we had exchanged numbers, I failed,” Gwaba stated. “Surprisingly, sometime in February, 2024, I was called by someone from LAZ asking for my whereabouts for them to serve me what I later came to know was a complaint against myself by Mr Marshall Muchende, SC, for purported professional misconduct alleging [that] by calling Mr Muchende corrupt, I had insulted the President and brought shame to the rank and status of State Counsel which Mr Muchende now enjoyed by virtue of his appointment as Solicitor General.”
Gwaba stated that he was surprised to learn about the complaint against him as he believed it was all in confidence as assured to him by Shamakamba although he responded to it.
