By Agness Changala
A PF councilor, accused of stealing 450 by 50kg kilogram bags of maize from the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) meant for the vulnerable, says he is innocent until proven guilty by the courts of law.
Sisinje ward councilor in Chipangali of Eastern Province, Bobat Phiri says the court will soon clear [pp-logged-users] his name, after which, he will have time to give an account of the maize saga.
Phiri was yesterday formally charged and arrested for allegedly stealing maize.
He was charged with theft by a public servant while his co-accused James Sakala was facing the charge of theft.
Eastern Province commanding officer Limpo Liywalii said the councilor and his co-accused had been released on police bond and would appear in court soon.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Phiri said he could not say much for now because the matter was already in court and was scheduled to appear today.
He said the investigations were also still in the process, but he was pretty sure that the court would clear him.
“So soon the court will clear my name or the court will plead me guilty. So far, I have nothing much to say, all I know is that the case is still under investigation at a very high level,” he said.
Phiri accused some media houses of taking his matter personal and were capitalising on something to just dent his name.
He said if he sold the maize as alleged, what message he was going to tell people in his ward.
“Even you can ask yourself, now if I was selling maize, I wanted to sell the maize that belongs to my ward, what message was I supposed to tell my people in that ward. I can’t say I am not guilty until the court of law pleads me guilty. The case is in court and tomorrow (Today). I am appearing before court,” said Phiri.
