I am sorry for having wronged Zambians – Lusambo
MOMENTS before being handed seven years of jail time, former Copperbelt minister Bowman Lusambo said he was sorry for having wronged Zambians by abusing his position to engage in graft.
Lusambo pleaded with the Economic and Financial Crimes Court to be lenient on him because the mortification that comes with his conviction was immense, and cannot be wiped off the face of the earth.
The former Kabushi lawmaker was charged with 10 corruption related charges among them one count of corrupt acquisition of public property, five counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime, one count of conspiracy to defraud and three counts of tax evasion.
He was jointly charged with his wife Nancy Manase on four counts of possessing four tainted houses in Silverest gardens.
In her findings magistrate Faidess Hamaundu said Lusambo being provincial minister on the Copperbelt had administrative authority over the Ndola city town clerk Enerst Sumani and ordered him to allocate land belonging to NAPSA in Dola-Hill, Ndola, to his company Frontier Management Services Limited.
She said non of the directors of Frontier confronted the council over land, as the application was done by Lusambo as provincial minister.
Magistrate Hamaundu said Lusambo like possessed K880,000 which he used to purchase his Land Rover-Range Rover.
She also found that Lusambo failed to pay property transfer tax for the three properties he conveyed into the names of Mbachi Nkwazi who is the proprietor of Power Tools buses and BEM motors.
Magistrate Hamaundu said there was no evidence that Lusambo conspired to defraud the Masaiti council K250,000 as premium fee when he made the ministry of lands process certificate of title, no. MASAI_1003028/ 218 and acquitted him.
With regard to the four houses in Silverest Gardens, the court found that Lusambo was trying to conceal the property he illegally acquired, when he registered them in his wife’s name.
“If he wasn’t concealing property, why didn’t he attach his NRC and name to his wife’s maiden name?,”magistrate Hamaundu questioned.
She said there was no evidence that Lusambo owned the Jeep Grand Cherokee which he gave to the Chinese owners of the properties, as part payment.
She wondered why he used someone’s jeep to conceal his name.
“The car was registered in the names of Lazarus Musukwa, what was the accused hiding?,”she said.
“Such conduct raised reasonable suspicion in the way he purchased the property in I find him guilty and convict him.”
Lusambo who carried the can for putting his wife Nancy in trouble, managed to clean her name of graft when he clarified that she knew nothing about the purchase of the houses.
Magistrate Hamaundu supported his explanation that she was immaculate, as there was no evidence produced by the State to show that she had control and knowledge of the houses.
In mitigation Lusambo’s lawyer Charles Changano begged the court for mercy on behalf of the Bulldozer on the premise that he was a bread winner.
“In each family there’s a bread winner, the Joseph of Israel is there. The bible tells us that Adam wronged God, But God had mercy,” he said.
“The convict (Lusambo) wronged the people of Zambia. Your seat is a seat of mercy, have mercy to the offender. Though he looks big he’s a young man who needs new life.”
Changano prayed for maximum leniency saying Lusambo was remorseful.
“Society looked at him as an honorable having served as minister for the Copperbelt and Lusaka. With this conviction he’s mentally tortured,” he said.
“Should the court not give him a custodial sentence the constitution warrants him to contests in 2026.”
Changano said his client was ready to surrender his tainted wealth but the Court should not put a final nail in the coffin by ending his political career with a custodial sentence but instead consider imposing a fine.
“His property is going to the state but the court should spare his career by not giving him a custodial sentence,”he pleaded.
“The wife you have acquitted has an operation from India and needs care by the convict. The wife has a four year old child which can only be taken care of by the convict, you are a parent, you are a mother within you.”
And Nkhula Botha re-echoed that Lusambo was
remorseful, as the humiliation that comes with his conviction is dire on his reputation.
“He begs you to not allow him to leave court with a sense of shock owing to the fact that he had elected not to plead guilty but instead allowed himself to go through the entire trial,” said Botha.
“We tender our apologies to the court and to the people for having found himself on the wrong side of the law, and he pleads with ernesty to give him a just and fare punishment.”
In handing down her sentence magistrate Hamaundu noted that offences of Tax evasion and possessing property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime were prevalent and deserve deterrence.
She parked the Bulldozer for four years in jail with hard labor for corrupt acquisition of public property, three years for possessing a car and four houses in Silverest gardens and fined him K9, 000 in each of the three counts of tax evasion in default nine months simple imprisonment.
Magistrate Hamaundu said the sentences will run concurrently which means that Lusambo will only serve four years.
She also ordered him to pay a cumulative sum of K27,000 to the treasury.
After his jailing Lusambo who was disturbed after stacking up a four-year jail sentence to the two years he was slapped with by the Luanshya magistrates Court for violence on Wednesday, managed to wear a smile.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba