GIVEN LUBINDA IMPLICATES EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU IN MUKULA TRADE
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
Former justice minister Given Lubinda, this afternoon in the Lusaka High Court, implicated former president Edgar Lungu in illegal Mukula trade when he admitted that only the President could deploy the military, as commander in chief, and that the PF government was abusing the Zambia National Service to escort Mukula logs bound for export. Lubinda further admitted that the government of President Edgar Lungu disobeyed a court order that said the ban on Mukula was illegal. Meanwhile Lubinda literally threw his former counterpart at lands Jean Kapata under the bus when he said the disobedience of the court judgment – and hence the commission of the contempt of court – was likely under her.
Other transgressions he admitted to in court today are pledging a house he didn’t own to the Chinese who gave him money, his company receiving money from Nyimba Investments – which supplied fertiliser to government about the time Given Lubinda was minister of agriculture and whose owner Gulam Patel was also a long-time Lungu supporter and PF donor, his company receiving money from the ministry of finance while he was still a serving minister in the PF government, and supplying beef to the prisons and police while he was a serving minister in the Pf government.
Meanwhile, yesterday, whilst being cross-examined in court by renowned Lusaka Lawyer Mutembo Nchito SC, Lubinda admitted to committing tax evasion – that he didn’t pay tax for some business dealings – when he was justice minister and admitted committing perjury during trial. The former acting president of the PF also admitted receiving $180, 000 from a Chinese National who was introduced to him by businessman Gulam Patel, which he used to buy properties in Kingsland City. Lubinda, 59, who is former minister of Agriculture, told the court that renowned fertilizer supplier Gulam Patel introduced him to the Chinese during dinner at his house in Makeni. Accordingly, Lubinda admitted that he did not inform ZRA and did not pay tax on the money that he received from his “Chinese friends” into his personal bank account. Lubinda argued that the money he received from the Chinese was a loan he got on behalf a company called Highview Investment Limited, in his capacity as chairman, but was deposited in his personal account and was never transmitted to the company.
Further, Lubinda admitted that he had given incorrect information during his examination in chief when he told the court that other than US$100,000, the other amount he received from a Chinese company as part of a purported loan was US$80,000 and not US$50,000.
Given Lubinda, Jean Kapata and former president Edgar Lungu’s daughter, Tasila, sued News Diggers Media Limited, its managing editor Mukosha Funga and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in January 2020, demanding damages for libel in connection with a story on illegal Mukula trade which was derived from an EIA report and published in the newspaper. The trio are seeking damages against all the defendants for libel contained in News Diggers newspaper’s edition of December 6, 2019, titled “Lungu, Tasila in Mukula cartel” as well as damages against EIA for libel contained in its publication of December 2019, titled “Mukula cartel how timber trafficking networks plunder Zambian forests”. Lubinda, Kapata and Tasila also want damages against the defendants for libel in News Diggers’ editorial opinions titled “Mukula smugglers are in govt, cartel members are exposing each other”, “Kampyongo said criminals like using his name, Kapata to smuggle Mukula. Why”, “Remember Kapata said Mukula proceeds were not remitted to Treasury” and “Tasila must learn from Henry Banda”, among other articles and opinions.
