IS HH SERIOUS OVER THE FIGHT AGAINST FINANCIAL CRIME?
The Candidates’ Comment
The delay by Hakainde Hichilema to do so many things is slowly eroding his prospect to achieve so many things he promised Zambians. On top of delivering all other promises, Hakainde committed himself to fighting corruption, plunder and financial crimes that were committed in the previous administration of Edgar Lungu.
There is no doubt that the previous administration had the most corrupt elements this country has never seen. If someone who is a a nonentity without any traceable record of wealth as Faith Musonda and wasn’t working in government can have K65 million at home, what more those who were in authority? If a little known business man who is linked to PF can have $800,000 hidden at home, what more those who were in authority?
Everyone knows including children that PF ran the most corrupt administration. Known nonentities of all sorts have built mansions and are filthy rich under the PF administration. Those who associated with PF elements are very rich, through all sorts of corruption and plunder witnessed in the previous administration.
But amidst all this truth, there appears to be no meaningful plan by Hakainde’s administration to fight these thieves. The more Hakainde’s administration delays the more thieves are finding ways to hide the evidences and their wealth acquired corruptly. The investigative wings appear to be sabotaging Hakainde’s efforts. Worse, Hakainde is himself very slow at doing certain things, which includes making important appointments and removing compromised elements from the institutions of governance. His delay to behave like someone who is really in charge is creating a path for crooks to destroy evidences and hide their proceeds of crime.
Over the weekend, a combined team of investigators went to search at Valden Findlay’s house. This search comes after two months of Hakainde coming into power. Not long ago, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) froze the accounts of Valden on a premise that he was trying to transfer huge sums of money overseas. We believe, the investigative wings have for a long time itched to investigate Valden. Why they have taken all this time beats logic. If there were some sort of evidence at Valden’s house to implicate him in anyway, that evidence is no longer there. Valden is not as foolish as these investigative are treating him. You can’t be investigating suspected criminals in a manner that you are doing. Most of these elements being investigated are mafias. They are professional white-color crooks who will not stupidly leave easy traces of evidences anywhere openly. If these investigative wings are serious and perhaps credible, they would not be dealing with high profile criminals in such a stupid manner. The conduct of these investigative wings and how they are dealing with such matters tells more of how compromised and incompetent they are. If they are serious and very interested with investigating Valden, why not invite him for interrogations and then search his properties earlier than after many days, thereby allowing him to burry any evidences he may have against himself at his disposal?
It would be not be wrong to speculate that these elements in these investigative wings are corrupted by the same suspects they are investigating and searching. These investigative wings appear to be more of institutions that launder thieves in this country.
This perhaps explains why these investigative wings have opted not to prosecute Faith Musonda over her millions found at her house. Their reasoning that prosecuting Faith would be expensive and lengthily is stupid. Fighting crime is priceless. It matters less how much you spend in prosecuting crimes. What matters is serving justice and punishing criminals.
We are disappointed with Hakainde that his so-called recovery of assets corruptly acquired meant getting the money from Faith without prosecution. If this is what Hakainde meant that he would fight corruption, then clearly, there is nothing to celebrate about in this regard.