MY EARLIER TESTIMONY WAS BASED ON REPORTS CONTAINING LIES – FORMER ACTING AMBASSADOR
…says I don’t believe Hon Malanji was in receipt of the US$4.6 million he is accused of flying with in a presidential jet
Lusaka, Tuesday, June 18, 2023 ( Smart Eagles)
A former Zambian diplomat to Turkey who told the Lusaka Magistrate court that an embassy accountant allegedly carried US$4.6 million from a bank in Ankara and delivered it to former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji had opposed his earlier testimony.
Misheck Nyembe Kaoma, a former Acting Ambassador, told court yesterday as he was being cross examined that he had based his earlier testimony on a report that contains lies.
In this matter, Hon Malanji and former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba are charged with willful failure to comply with procedure relating to procurement, and being in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Mr Kaoma told Magistrate Irene Wishimanga who is sitting under the Economic and Financial Crimes Court that he, despite stating otherwise in the earlier testimony, does not believe the accountant’s statement regarding the money in question stating that “I dont believe him because I was not there.”
He narrated that the accountant was a liar and in some questionable deals with the late Zambia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Joseph Chilengi.
He said out of everyone at the embassy, it is only Mr Sankenga that is implicating the former Minister adding that the accountant does not mention that he handed over the money to Hon Malanji.
He said the purported bags of money were put in the vehicle for the late Ambassador.
“Sankenga mentioned that the Money was put in the Vehicle for the Ambassador and not Hon Joseph Malanji,” Kaoma testified.
The witnesses also alleged that the former Ambassador used to get commissions from similar deals from people who are not part of the embassy.
“I was not aware of the procurement of the Chancery and the only knowledge I have is what I was told and it is what I was told that I compiled in th Report. Those who told me wrote reports and that is the information I compiled and the people that told me are the only ones that can confirm what they told me. I can not confirm what they told me,” Kaoma stated.
“Mr Toga, according to the report, says he had a working relationship for 3 to 4 years.. they had a $20m deal, $800,000 in Commission to be shared between the Agent and the Ambassador.”
Mr Kaoma whose substantive appointment at Zambia’s Embassy in Turkey was First Secretary Economy and Trade added that in the report, there is no mention of Hon Malanji’s involvement in the illegalities at the embassy.
Asked if the acts of getting commission by the late Ambassador who was allegedly acting together with the accountant in question amounted to defrauding the embassy and the Zambian government, the witness said “I’m not an expert in corruption.”
When the lawyer to the accused asked “the truth and lies are contained here. If the report contains truth and lies, are you presenting truth and lies?” the witness said “some truths are there and some lies are there.”
Asked if he had mentioned in his earlier testimony if there are lies contained in the report, the witness gave an affirmative answer.
He also stated that those that were there when the procurement in question was taking place are the ones that can tell the truth.