CHISHIMBA Kambwili has told the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court that his former employees would not have been prosecuted if they had returned the US$160,000 stolen from him.
The former Roan Constituency member of parliament said it was unbearable to only recover US$30,000 out of $160,000.
This is in a matter where his five employees – Rodney Ntanga, Esther Munyeka, George Bwalya, Millan Chembe, Charles Kamutengo – are facing a charge of theft by servant involving US$160,000
In another count, David Zimba, a retired police officer, Ian Kalunga, a police officer based at Police Force headquarters under the fingerprints department, and Jacob Sinadambwe, a soldier and student Stacey Jones, are facing a charge of theft involving the US$160,000.
Kalunga and Zimba have each been given another charge of possessing vehicles suspected to be proceeds of crime, which they denied.
It is alleged that the two between December 14 and 27, 2020 possessed a Toyota Runx registration no. BAR 4326, a Toyota Noah of registration no. ALF 4409, a Toyota Regius registration no. ADC 1009, K10,000 and a Toyota Corolla registration no. ADD 731, suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Testifying before magistrate Nthandose Chabala, Kambwili said he runs Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services Limited which had running contracts with several miming firms.
He explained that in 2016, Mwamona obtained a contract from Mopani worth US$11 million and would be paid in dollars for the services it offered.
Kambwili said money was deposited in the company’s account at Atlas Mara to which he withdrew part of it and kept in his safe at home which he had hidden in his bedroom, inside his wardrobe.
“I have been saving money in my safe since 2012. I keep the money and at the same time, sometimes in December I had US$ 160,000. Going by the bank of Zambia laws, you can only withdraw $5000 so we would withdraw money in Kwacha change it into dollars and I would save it in my safe,” Kambwili said.
He told the court that before the festive season last year, the ceiling board in his bedroom was damaged and he asked his driver Bwalya to find someone to fix it.
He said Bwalya brought a man of Kalingalinga and recommended that he would fix the ceiling board in the kitchen and bedroom.
Kambwili alleged that on the day he was leaving for the Copperbelt, he gave his houseboy, Ntanga, and Bwalya the keys to his bedroom and directed them to monitor the men who were fixing the ceiling until they were done and that they surrender the keys to his daughter Chanda.
“l told them to monitor those men for one reason; in the past I was losing money in my bedroom and the two had access when I was around. Every time I lost money, Rodney and Bwalya would blame each other because they are the only ones who entered my room and I told them to monitor the men fixing the ceiling to avoid such an issue and left for the Copperbelt,” Kambwili said.
He told the court that the safe was in one of the corners of his wardrobe and he would hide it by folding clothes on top of it, and that Rodney had knowledge of the safe in his bedroom because he used to clean the room and fold his clothes.
Kambwili narrated that after spending Christmas with his children, he decided to check his the safe on December 27 and to his surprise, he found a different safe in his wardrobe.
He said his safe was green but it was exchanged with an empty black one.
“Immediately I saw this, I knew I was in trouble. I got it and put it on my bed. I shook it and it was empty. I called my private secretary Fabian Mutale and told him to do thorough investigations because it looked like an inside job because I left the two men in the bedroom and my daughter and Stacey were home,”Kambwili narrated
“My first suspicion was that maybe my daughters had tampered with my safe. I called them and they showed ignorance but were quick to say at one time they had their friends in the house. There were three boys with Stacey, they had a brai and the key was left with Chanda and one of them might have gotten the key.”
He claimed that he instructed his daughters to call their friends but Stacey did not show up as she was in Livingstone for a holiday and she posted pictures on her Facebook page with her boyfriend at a very expensive pleasure resort.
“Stacey is an orphan. I treated her like my own daughter. She used to complain that the reason she stayed with us was because her sisters never treated her well. My daughters suspected her because she had never gone anywhere without them and the Highland was an expensive resort. We called Stacey to come back from Livingstone and she came after two days. I interviewed her and she denied but I saw her tremble. I told my daughters I did not want to see Stacey near my house,” Kambwili said.
He narrated that whilst in the UK, a whistleblower told him that Bwalya stole money together with other employees and Stacey.
“The safe was transferred using Stacey’s boyfriend’s vehicle into Arackan Barracks to Esther’s house and Esther’s husband, Jacob, told them not to leave it in his house because if it had a tracking device, he would be tracked because he was a soldier and he advised them to go and have it opened at Chilenje market,” Kambwili said.
“I called Rodney because Esther had stopped coming for work. I asked him about the money, he refused. I called Esther and she gave me directions to her mother’s house in Chalala but when I went there, she didn’t pick up her phone. I went to her mother’s home but she was not there. Esther later called Rodney and I noticed he was unstable. I asked him who he was talking to and he
claimed it was his wife. I grabbed the phone and discovered it was not his wife. I talked to Esther but she cut the phone.”
Kambwili said he sent his secretary to Esther’s house and they were told by the neighbour that the couple had fled their home.
He recounted that whilst they were having lunch the following day, Rodney escaped with help of Chembe despite instructing him to keep an eye on the houseboy.
“I went to his house and Rodney’s wife explained that he bought a TV, chairs and he lied to her that he had won Bola bet but what surprised her was the vehicle he bought. She said two police officers went to their home with Rodney, got some dollars and gave the officers who had papers for change of ownership,” Kambwili recounted.
“She said Rodney later disclosed that they had stolen money in your house. Esther bought a car and household goods and the rest of my employees and Stacey got some money. She said the officers from Woodlands tortured Esther and Rodney saying they had stolen money but they denied.”
He said the whistleblowers tip and information he got from Rodney’s wife collaborated and he reported the matter at Chilenje police station and not Woodlands because he was afraid that the two officers might interfere.
He added that six vehicles, two houses US$30,000 and some kwachas were recovered from Rodney, Esther, Bwalya and Chembe as Kamutengo was at large.
He also wondered how Rodney furnished a house and set up a bar from a salary of K1,200 per month.
When asked by state prosecutor Sammuel Zulu how much his employees were getting as their take home pay, Kambwili said he paid his workers in the range of K1,000 and K1,200 every month except from Bwalya who got K5,000 every month.
“The accused are family men and women. I pleaded with them to bring back the money and I wouldn’t want them to undergo punishment. I am not a sadist. I would have let them go. There was a time when someone stole my money, they brought it back and I let them go but in an instance where $160,000 goes missing and they only return $30,000 it becomes unbearable,” said Kambwili.
During cross- examination by Ntanga, Kambwili was asked whether or not he disclosed to him that his daughter Chanda had a spare key to the safe but he denied.
When asked about the whereabouts of his daughters when the incident occurred, Kambwili said told Ntanga that he was aware that the children were rarely at home.
Asked why he would continue working after stealing the money, Kambwili said, “it’s typical of thieves, you wanted to deceive me that you did not steal the money, that’s why you did not leave when I went to England.”
Munyeka asked Kambwili if she had access to his bedroom but he denied.
When asked by Bwalya’s lawyer Agrippa Malando if he saw his client steal the money, Kambwili denied.
He confirmed that no employment contract was produced before court neither did he pay Bwalya’s statutory obligations as a worker.
And Chembe asked Kambwili why he was not paid his salary arrears but Kambwili explained that his guard was employed by the NDC, therefore, it was not his duty to clear arrears on behalf of the party.
The matter comes up on May 10 for continued cross-examination.