Zambia seizes 'Chiluba millions'

[Dua]

Zambia seizes 'Chiluba millions'

Mr Chiluba's suits were paid
by public funds, a UK judge has said

The Zambian government says it has recovered money and assets worth nearly $60m stolen during the rule of former President Frederick Chiluba.

The assets include bank deposits and an upmarket apartment in Belgium. Information Minister Mike Mulongoti said the assets would be sold and the money used to upgrade hospitals. Mr Mulongoti said the funds were recovered from former government officials who had served in Mr Chiluba's administration.

Mr Chiluba is on trial at the Magistrates Court in Lusaka, charged with corruption. In May last year, the High Court in Britain ruled that Mr Chiluba and four of his aides had conspired to rob Zambia of about $40 million. The civil action was brought in Britain because the allegedly stolen money passed through bank accounts in London. UK Judge Peter Smith said Zambians should know that when the former president appeared wearing his trademark designer clothes, they were paid for with public funds.

Mr Chiluba, who served two terms as Zambia's president from 1991 to 2001, is challenging that verdict. He denounced it is "racist" and "obscene".

His successor, President Levy Mwanawasa, has been pursuing an anti-corruption drive against Mr Chiluba's former government.

The president has offered to pardon Mr Chiluba if he admits the allegations and returns 75% of the cash he allegedly stole, but the ex-leader denies the allegations.

Sisi bado tunasubiri za kwetu kutoka kwa che_nkapa.....

 

[Keykey]

Zambia seizes 'Chiluba millions'


Sisi bado tunasubiri za kwetu kutoka kwa che_nkapa.....

Mafisadi mmesikia hiyo? mwenzio akinyolewa wewe tia maji!

 

[Ogah]

Che-Nkapa na Yona nao waturudishie Kiwira yetu,.......wasituletee utani hapa............70mill hata baadhi ya members hapa JF wanaweza kuwarudishia.

Hivi SIMU 2000 Ltd bado ina-exist?

 

[Mtanzania]

Chiluba na suits kali huku watu wanakufa njaa. Nguo za JK nazo hazina tofauti na Chiluba, bei mbaya huku wananchi tunahangaika.

Afrika tuna taabu kubwa!

 

[Gang Chomba]

mwaka huu dua kawaamulia wazee duh...

 

[BAK]

Che-Nkapa na Yona nao waturudishie Kiwira yetu,.......wasituletee utani hapa............70mill hata baadhi ya members hapa JF wanaweza kuwarudishia.

Hivi SIMU 2000 Ltd bado ina-exist?

Wote tu wafilisiwe kabisa akiwamo fisadi Mkapa, Mramba, Chenge, Karamagi, Lowassa, Sumaye, Mkono, Mzindakaya na wengineo. Na majumba yao yaliyo ndani na nje ya nchi yapigwe bei na hela ziingizwe hazina.

 

[jmushi1]

Chiluba na suits kali huku watu wanakufa njaa. Nguo za JK nazo hazina tofauti na Chiluba, bei mbaya huku wananchi tunahangaika.

Afrika tuna taabu kubwa!

Yani it was the same impression na mimi nilipofungua tu thread na kuona jamaa na suti yake duh!

 

[Jasusi]

Nasikia na fisadi Chenge suti zake anaagiza kutoka London by DHL. Kila suti si chini ya pauni 2000.

 

[Augustine Moshi]

Wakati umefika wa kuorodhesha fedha na rasilimali kubwa za viongozi ambazo ziko ndani na nje ya nchi. Watu wa Usalama wa Taifa wana uwezo wa kufuatilia kila simu, e-mail, fax na snail mail inayotoka Tanzania. Wanafahamu, au wana uwezo wa kufahamu, akaunti kubwa za ndani na nje ya nchi, za viongozi wa sasa na waliopita.

Wako viongozi ambao wameficha fedha walizopata isivyo halali kwenye akaunti za nje, na kwa kutumia majina yao au ya ndugu zao. Lakini wanawasiliana na benki au investors wao kwa simu, fax au snail mail. Mawasiliano yote hayo ni monitored, au yanaweza kuwa monitored. Kwa hivyo, uwezo wa kuorodhesha mali za wizi zilizofichwa ndani na nje ya nchi upo.

Mwinyi alipoingia madarakani alisema wazi kwamba alikuta Hazina kweupe! Viongozi wamekuwa wakiwaibia wananchi kiasi kikubwa cha fedha tangu awamu ya kwanza. Kama zingerudishwa hizo fedha, hata deni lote la nje (dola bilioni 7) lingelipwa mara moja.

Kuhusu JK kuvaa nguo za bei mbaya naomba niulize hivi: Contract yake (terms and conditions zake za kazi) hazisemi kwamba mahitaji yote yake na ya familia yake yatatolewa na serikali? Kama zinasema hivyo basi huenda hata nguo ana haki ya kununuliwa kwa kodi ya wananchi.

I congratulate the Zambians. They are assuring everybody that crime does not pay.
They are making an example out of Chiluba.

 

[BAK]

Chiluba's legacy to Zambia
BBC News Online

Former BBC Zambia correspondent Ishbel Matheson reflects on Frederick Chiluba's time as president. Mr Chiluba has been found guilty of stealing $46m (£23m) of public money by a court in London.

Mr Chiluba has always denied stealing public money

Soon after President Frederick JT Chiluba swept to power in a landslide election win in 1991, he was heard to remark to close aides: "Power is sweet."

After 10 years in charge, the former bus conductor and trade union leader, continued to enjoy the taste of power.

So much so that he mounted a campaign to change the country's constitution to allow him to run for the presidency a third time.

He was forced to abandon this plan, after massive opposition from within his own ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) and from the Zambian public.

But the move did much to damage the president's personal prestige.

Many Zambians saw it as an attempt to turn the clock back - as well as a betrayal of the democratic principles which he had preached since the beginning of his presidency.

"We don't hate you, Mr President," said one shop assistant as the arguments raged in 2001. "But please just do the right thing, and leave."

Heady times

When Mr Chiluba was elected, it was amid a atmosphere of elation and euphoria.

His fledgling MMD had trounced the incumbent Kenneth Kaunda and his ruling Unip at the polls.

Kaunda's men were pickpockets, but Chiluba's lot are thieves


It was an audacious victory, which sent shockwaves across Africa.

The charismatic Mr Kaunda had held the reins of power since independence in 1964 - much of it under one-party rule.

Although he had been forced by popular discontent to hold elections, when beaten at the polls, he ceded power peacefully.

His successor Frederick Chiluba was hailed as one of a new breed of democratically elected leaders, in a continent where rulers clung on for decades.

Zambians looked forward to a bright, new future.

The new government set about unshackling the country's collapsing economy from stifling state controls. Guided by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, it embraced the free-market market with one of the most ambitious liberalisation programmes in Africa.

With its large copper reserves - some of the biggest in the world - and rich agricultural potential, foreign investors started to eye this poor southern Africa nation with interest.

Reality

But 10 years on, that optimism had mostly evaporated. Many regarded Mr Chiluba's rule as a disappointment. The promise of the MMD revolution remained unfulfilled.

So what went wrong? For one, despite being promoted as an new-style African leader, Mr Chiluba began to show some decidedly old-fashioned traits.

Within a year-and-a-half, he had sacked independent-minded colleagues from his cabinet, and began to surround himself by "yes" men and women.

Corruption flourished. Some of Mr Chiluba's cronies, it seemed, were more interested with lining their own pockets, than serving their country.

Within a decade, graft seeped into Zambia's way of life.

"Kaunda's men were pickpockets," commented one Zambian journalist. "But Chiluba's lot are thieves."

The government's sell-off of the copper mines - the country's biggest asset - was botched and scandal-ridden.

A parliamentary probe revealed that some of the assets of ZCCM, the mines' company, simply vanished into thin air, while other valuable properties were sold for a song.

In the meantime, the free-market economy failed to deliver.

Despite billions of dollars of international aid since 1991, three-quarters of Zambia's population still live below the World Bank poverty threshold of $1 a day. The much-needed foreign investment to kick-start the economy has not transpired.

A large part of the blame must rest with Mr Chiluba himself. He often seemed more interested in securing his own position, than improving the lot of his people.

His attempts to hound his rival and former president, Mr Kaunda, out of politics in the mid-1990s, tarnished his reputation badly with the international community.

President Levy Mwanawasa says he will pardon Mr Chiluba - if he returns 75% of the money
In 1997, Mr Kaunda was accused of conspiring in failed coup plot and imprisoned.

It took protests from Africa's elder statesmen, Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyerere, to persuade Mr Chiluba to release him.

Then there was the long-running, politically inspired court case, which attempted to strip Zambia's independence leader of his citizenship.

Many saw the hounding of Mr Kaunda as spiteful and malicious, by a leader who felt jealous of the older man's popularity, both with the Zambian people and among fellow African leaders.

Mr Chiluba, himself, cut a curious figure in public life.

He is a "natty" dresser, with a fondness for expensive, monogrammed clothes, and built-up shoes to improve his diminutive height.

A fervent born-again Christian, his private life was the subject of much gossip. In September 2001, he divorced his wife Vera, to whom he had been married for 33 years.

Positive change

But although Mr Chiluba may not have left office a popular leader, Zambia changed greatly under his tenure, and a lot of it, for the good.

The public opposition to his third term bid showed that Zambians treasured their young democracy, so much so that even in this famously, laid-back country, they were prepared to mobilise to protect it.

Moreover, the freedom of speech allowed under Mr Chiluba would have been unthinkable for much of Mr Kaunda's rule.

There was a lively, free printed media, which relentlessly - and cruelly - lampooned the country's political leadership including Mr Chiluba. Such public mockery of the presidency is unknown in some parts of Africa.

Although the free-market has not delivered prosperity, the consensus among the country's political class - opposition and government - is that it is the only way forward.

The goal is to make Zambia's economy work better, not to return to the days of price controls, and the over-weaning state.

Finally, although Mr Chiluba wanted to stay in power, it is to his credit that he did not use widespread, state-sponsored violence to do so.

Zambians only have to look south, to neighbouring Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe, to see what the alternative might have been.

Mr Chiluba - Zambia's second leader since independence - opted to go the other route, leaving office peacefully. For this, Zambians can be thankful.

 

[mwanatanu]

Nakumbuka hili Chiluba lilipochukuwa u-rais alikuja na mbwembe kama za JK...yaani yeye ni mtu wa wanyonge na ametokea kwenye familia masikini na akasema hataki yala maandamano ya magari mengi katika msafara wake kama ilivyo kwa viongozi wa Africa yeye anataka gari 2 tu katika msafara wake....kumbe ni nyoka

 

[BAK]

Chiluba fury at seizure of suits
BBC News Online

Chiluba was Zambia's president for 10 years
Ex-Zambian president Frederick Chiluba has hit out angrily after hundreds of his shirts, suits and shoes were seized from a warehouse at the weekend.
The former head of state, with a taste for expensive designer suits, said the raid in Lusaka was a calculated attempt to "disgrace and humiliate" him.

Police suspect the clothes were bought using government funds and believe the ex-president hid them at the warehouse.

But Mr Chiluba said his new home was too small for all his belongings.

Marcos of Zambia

"What they have done is to bring my underpants out to the general public," Mr Chiluba told reporters.

Zambians know I have always dressed very well from the 1960s

Frederick Chiluba

Mr Chiluba said anti-graft investigators were persecuting him.

"It is sad that the fight against corruption is being reduced to discussing suits, shirts, ties and, shoes. Zambians know me and know that I have always dressed very well from the 1960s," he said. "They also want to bring me into ridicule and make the case look like it is similar to [Imelda] Marcos of the Philippines," he added.

Cases

The BBC's Musonda Chibamaba says this is the latest of several seizures of properties that the former president has gone through.

Motor vehicles and buildings both in Zambia and Europe have already been seized in the past.

His handpicked successor, President Levy Mwanawasa, has been pursuing an anti-corruption drive against Mr Chiluba's former government.

Mr Mwanawasa said that he would grant a presidential pardon to Mr Chiluba if he admitted the allegations of corruption and returned 75% of the cash he allegedly stole.

Mr Chiluba has consistently denied corruption charges, saying they are politically motivated.

 

[BAK]

Kama Wazambia wameweza na sisi pia tutaweza kama tuna kiongozi thabiti mwenye uongozi usioyumbayumba

Chiluba loses immunity appeal

By Penny Dale
BBC News correspondent in Lusaka

Chiluba denies all the allegations

In a landmark decision, Zambia's Supreme Court has ruled that parliament acted legally and properly last year in removing the immunity of former president Frederick Chiluba.

This means that Mr Chiluba no longer enjoys protection from the law as guaranteed in the constitution and paves the way for an imminent arrest on charges of corruption.

Mr Chiluba was stripped of his immunity after being accused by his successor, President Levy Mwanawasa, of misusing millions of dollars of government money.

It is the first time such a decision has been made in Zambia and the Commonwealth and it will have massive ramifications for current and future Zambian presidents.

Mr Chiluba denies all the allegations.

'Shell-shocked'

There was chaos on the steps of the Supreme Court.

A shell-shocked Mr Chiluba, on the arm of his new wife Regina, had to push his way through a jostling crowd of journalists, well-wishers and detractors to reach his car.

The normally talkative ex-president was speechless, refusing to make any comment on the court's decision until he had a chance to confer with his lawyers about the ruling.

Scores of people waiting outside the courtroom were not so reticent, some calling for his arrest.

As one after another of Mr Chiluba's five appeals points were rejected by Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, the former president tried to put on a brave face.

He smiled a lot but occasionally bowed his head while his wife gave him a reassuring squeeze on the arm.

The chief justice made it clear in the ruling, which lasted almost two hours, that parliament properly exercised its power, and its decision was not outrageous.

Arrest 'imminent'

Mr Chiluba's arrest on corruption charges is now expected at any time.

The special task force set up to investigate the allegations during Mr Chiluba's 10 years in office has said it has already summoned the ex-president for questioning later on Wednesday.

Mr Chiluba's lawyers told me that he will co-operate and appear if that is what the task force wants.

The question many Zambians are asking is whether Chiluba will fall victim to one of his own retrogressive laws: the non-balliable offence of motor vehicle theft.

 

[Chuma]

This Is Strong Msg To All Our Ex Presidents N Other Leaders, Even Those Who Are In Graves....we Need To Show Even Sign Of Lock In Their Graves..

They Have To Understand That Life Never End On Our Death, But There Is Life Hereafter...

Ninachojiuliza Wa-tz Tunaweza? Wakati Mwenge Wa Mwalim Umewalaza Watu...zambia Wenzetu IlipoPanda Bei Ya Mkate Wameandamana...bongo Anytime Mkate Unapanda Bei....hakuna Anaejali...tunabakia Ku-justify Wizi Wetu Makazini....na Wengine Ujambazi...wakati Vibaka Viongozi Hawaguswi!!!

 

[Chuma]

Binafsi siioni hoja za Suit kama zinaingia kichwani...labda avae dhahabu...tunaweza hoji...

 

[Kinyambiss]

Binafsi siioni hoja za Suit kama zinaingia kichwani...labda avae dhahabu...tunaweza hoji...

It seems u are unfamiliar with the world of fashion. expensive designer suits can cost anything from 2000 to 50,000 dollars a piece... sasa kama anazo zakutosha kujaza warehouse u do the math.

Hakuna kiongozi msafi dunia hii wote wezi tu... tatizo wengine wamezidi wizi.

 

[Mtu wa Pwani]

na yeye mwanawasa ajiandae kipimo anachompimia mwenziwe na yeye ajiandae kupimiwa

 

[Gaijin]

it just proves kuwa JK na watu wake wakitaka, ufisadi unaweza kutokomea.

 

[RR]

na yeye mwanawasa ajiandae kipimo anachompimia mwenziwe na yeye ajiandae kupimiwa

JK alipoulizwa kuhusu BWM alisema hivyo hivyo (alisema tukianza kufuatana tutaanza kuogopa kuachiana madaraka), ila nguvu ya umma haizuiliki!
Kama wewe si mwizi huwezi kuogopa kushughulikia wizi!

 

[Lunyungu]

This Is Strong Msg To All Our Ex Presidents N Other Leaders, Even Those Who Are In Graves....we Need To Show Even Sign Of Lock In Their Graves..

They Have To Understand That Life Never End On Our Death, But There Is Life Hereafter...

Ninachojiuliza Wa-tz Tunaweza? Wakati Mwenge Wa Mwalim Umewalaza Watu...zambia Wenzetu IlipoPanda Bei Ya Mkate Wameandamana...bongo Anytime Mkate Unapanda Bei....hakuna Anaejali...tunabakia Ku-justify Wizi Wetu Makazini....na Wengine Ujambazi...wakati Vibaka Viongozi Hawaguswi!!!

Chuma kwa Tanzania nothing is strong .Wanajipanga na wako na kila kitu .Tutasema , tulia , tukipiga kura wataiba kura kwa nguvu , wana jeshi na polisi na kila kitu .Tanzana inaweza kuwa kama Nigeria na hasa kwa sasa baada ya kuona kwamba tuna kila aina ya Utajiri kuanzia mafuta hadi gas .Basi nasema tegemeeni maafa siku CCM wakishindwa katika uchaguzi mkuu .Watapindua maana hivi hawahi kufanya mapinduzi lakini wanaitwa Chama cha Mapinduzi je siku wakishndwa watafanya nini? Kwa Zambia wanacheka wanasema wao ndiyo amani na utulivu .Tuna kazi kubwa Tanzania .