THE Lusaka High Court has upheld the 18-year jail sentence imposed by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on Henry Kapoko and two others.
Kapoko, a former Ministry of health human resource officer, was jailed for corruption in 2018 along with Vincent Luhana and Justine Phiri.
The High Court has, however, quashed the mode of conviction for the trio, saying their sentence will not run consecutively but concurrently.
This means that their sentence has been reduced to nine years from the date of conviction.
Meanwhile, Luhana and Phiri who were Convicted alongside Kapoko for being negligent in the execution of their duties have been acquitted of charges of theft by public servant and money laundering.
The court said the findings of the lower cannot be faulted as it was a discretion and upheld the directive by the Magistrates’ Court to pay back the stolen K6.8 million.
This is in a matter where Kapoko, Zukas Kaoma, Evaristo Musaba, Vincent Luhana and Justin Phiri challenged their 18-year jail term for theft by public servant on grounds that the state failed to prove the offence of theft by public servant, and money laundering beyond reasonable doubt.
In 2018 Choma-based magistrate Exnorbit Zulu, jailed Kapoko and four others to 18 years imprisonment after he found them guilty in 61 counts of theft by public servant and money laundering involving over K6.8 million.
Magistrate Zulu ordered Kapoko, Zukas Kaoma, Evaristo Musaba, Luhana and Phiri to pay back the K6.8 million and that all the properties they acquired using such money be forfeited to the State.
High Court judge Catherine Phiri, on behalf of others, said the trial magistrate could not be faulted for finding that the elements of theft had been proved.
After the judgement, Luhana and Phiri wore smiles as they left the court premises while a crestfallen Kapoko walked down the corridors of the Supreme Court with his hands strapped at his back.