By Agness Changala
A witness has testified before the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court that she was beaten and tortured by armed plain clothes officers who demanded that surrenders money she received from former president Edgar Lungu’s niece.
And the witness has told the court that Lungu told her that he gave his wife Esther $400,000 to keep for him, which she [pp-logged-users] also gave to the niece to keep.
In this case, former first lady Esther and four others are in court on accusations of concealing $400,000, property suspected of being proceeds of crime.
The accused are also charged with theft of motor vehicles.
Testifying as a first prosecution witness before magistrate Mbuywana Sinvula Elizabeth Phiri, a herbalist and owner of the house, Canter truck and two vehicles in contention, said on the day she was abducted, she was at the house of Lungu’s sister who was introduced to her by Catherine Banda, as the late mother’s best friend.
Phiri, told the court that she is a spiritual mother to Banda, who she had been helping to conceive over a long time through the use of herbal medicines.
The witness said while at the house of Lungu’s sister, they heard a loud bang and the door pushed open when she saw over seven men armed with guns.
She said the armed men beat and asked Banda where the parcel was and she told them that she had given it to her.
The witness said the men started beating her while asking her to give them the parcel.
“They later got me and put me in the van and pointed a gun at me,” Phiri said.
She told the court that the men drove with her to her house where they ordered her to open the grill door while they were beating her.
Phiri said the men searched her house including her bedroom while they continued to beat her threatening to kill her, but they did not find anything.
She said they also told her that if she doesn’t give them the parcel, they will chop her into pieces and no one will know her grave.
“I also heard them say this old woman must disappear. They pulled me outside. I was terrified because I was alone within the yard,” she said.
She narrated that after leaving her home, they drove with her in the bush and later realized that the vehicles were parked by a tarmac.
Phiri said she only realized she had been taken to the police station when she noted some police uniforms and a radio messenger where she had been taken.
She said she later came to know she had been taken to Mary Mwango police post where they told officers that the grandma should be jointly charged.
The witness said she spent one night at the police station and the following morning, the men went back and picked her up.
She said after her release from the cell, she was taken to president Lungu’s former residence in Ibex Hill.
Phiri explained that when she entered the house, she saw the former head of state seated directly to the door and immediately trembled as she wondered what she was doing in the house of the former head of state.
The witness said Lungu immediately started saying Banda, her niece, would put him in problems.
Phiri said Esther also joined in and asked her if she worshipped and which Church she went to.
The witness said she told her she was a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA).
“And she encouraged me to be prayerful because God loves me,” she said.
Phiri said Esther then asked her to sit down, which she did.
She said at some point, Lungu asked her if she knew why she had been taken to their home and she responded in the negative.
“I told him I didn’t know why they had taken me there,” she said. ” Mr Lungu said the reason we have brought you here, we want a parcel. The parcel we are talking about is $400,000 which I gave to my wife to keep for me, now my wife gave it to my niece Catherine Banda.”
She went on to explain that Lungu told her that when he asked the wife for the money, she called Banda and asked her where the parcel she was given was, but Banda said the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) got it from her.
But the defence objected to this line of evidence because according to them, it was hearsay.
When she continued, Phiri said Lungu informed her that they had troubled Banda and now she has mentioned her as the person she gave the money to.
She said the former first family insisted that they wanted the money from Phiri.
“So I told them the money you are talking about I don’t know anything about it. Since I was born I have never touched such kind of money and I have never seen such a huge amount of money. That’s what I told them,” she said.
She said Lungu continued to explain that Banda was a daughter to his sister and was only seeing his sister whenever he looked at her.
According to Phiri, Lungu went on to tell her that the niece was a grade nine, the reason he found her employment as a cleaner at Cabinet office.
She said she was surprised to hear this because Banda told her that she was a permanent secretary at Cabinet Office.
She said when Banda was asked where the money was, she told them she gave it to her (Phiri).
Phiri said Lungu asked Banda how much she gave Phiri and she said she gave her $300,000.
But Lungu said it didn’t sound true.
” Mr Lungu said that’s not true, for example, I have a K200 then I give someone a K150 to remain with K50 and I recall he said it in English. He said ‘I think me I have seen where the problem is but if I say much, it will seem I am favouring her’. That’s where he ended,” Phiri said.
She said Esther picked it up where her husband left and asked the witness for her names and son who accompanied her.
Phiri said Esther later produced documents which she gave her and the daughter to sign but she told her that she was unable to read clearly.
The witness told the court that she asked Esther to read for her but she refused and ordered her to sign.
Phiri said since she was subjected to beatings by the officers, she got sick for two weeks.
Phiri said after she got well, she started going to people to seek advice on what had happened to her and family.
She said they asked her if she had reported the matter to the police but she told them she had not, because people who were doing those things to her were police officers.
Phiri said she shared the matter with her daughter Fahana Patel and they decided to report the matter to police Force Headquarters.
She said at the police headquarters, she explained that Esther had grabbed her title for the house she bought and vehicles which belong to her.
“They asked me if I knew who got my things and I told them it’s Mrs Lungu,” said Phiri.
The witness said she bought the house on January 17, 2022 at the cost of K1,050,000.
She said she bought the house from Samuel Njobvu and Edina Banda.
The witness also presented some documents relating to the sale of the house among them a contract and condition of sale.
Earlier, the witness said she knew president Lungu’ s niece because she used to organize traditional medicines for her to drink, for steaming the body, smoking, adding to porridge and adding to lotion so that she could conceive and find love.
Trial continues in January next year.[/pp-logged-users]
