The Anti Corruption Commission has made an application to the Lusaka Magistrate Court to amend its original charges slapped on Bowman Lusambo and his wife Nancy, in a last ditch attempt to resuscitate a case which was collapsing.
The ACC had arrested the former Lusaka Province Minister along with his wife Nancy on March 9th 2022 on charges of being in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Over nine witnesses have since testified in the matter and Magistrate Faides Hamaundu had ordered the ACC to conclude their case at the next hearing.
But in a bizarre move, ACC through its Investigations Officer Mulenga Mulenga has applied to change the indictment from being in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime to include being in possession of suspected proceeds of crime.
And Mr Lusambo has condemned the application by the ACC describing it as an abuse of the court process.
He said the ACC is trying to find a way of salvaging a court case which has no legs to stand on.
Mr. Lusambo has since challenged the leadership at ACC to examine their actions and wether what they are doing is in line with Justice and the rule of law.
“Attempting to amend an indictment mid way into trial is a desperate attempt by the ACC to save their faces. They know that the existing indictment whichnjs before court is a manufactured one and doesn’t have any prosecutorial chances. This is an abuse of the court process and shouldn’t be allowed,” Mr Lusambo said.
And in a related development, Green Party President Peter Sinkamba says the move by the ACC to restrict property and people’s bank accounts as they investigate suspected corruption amounts to political witch hunt.
Mr Sinkamba said in an interview that there is need to come up with a policy that will stop Law Enforcement Agencies from restricting Bank accounts and seizing property suspected to be proceeds of crime before investigations are concluded.
Mr. Sinkamba says the move by the ACC is wrong and has exposed their ineffectiveness in fighting corruption saying this could have been done when the suspects were drawing allowances.
He said the ACC is using a very lazy method of fighting corruption which should not be encouraged.