DPP WANTS STIFFER PUNISHMENT FOR ZAMPOST POSTMASTER-GENERAL
By Darius Choonya, Cosmas Mulenga
The Director of Public Prosecution, Lilian Siyuni, wants former ZAMPOST Postmaster-General, Macpherson Chanda, to be given a stiffer punishment, for diverting over 300 million Kwacha in social cash transfer funds for the underprivileged.
In a notice of appeal, filed before the Economic and Financial Crimes Court, Ms. Siyuni says the court erred in law, when it failed to follow sentencing principles, and arrived at a lenient sentence, which does not reflect the seriousness of the offense.
Recently, the court convicted and sentenced Mr. Chanda, and two others; Best Mwaichi, Director of Finance, and Isaac Kamwimba, Director of Operations; to 2 years simple imprisonment, on 13 counts of theft by public servant.
However, dissatisfied with the courts judgement, Mr. Chanda, Mr Mwaichi and Mr Kamwimba, made an appeal; saying that the lower court erred in, law when it entered statutory judgement in favour of the Attorney General, in the sum of K355 million, having found as a matter of fact that ZAMPOST had only received a sum of K98 million, as social cash transfer from the Ministry of Community Development and Social Security.