Lusambo loops Mutati into his defence
JAILED former Lusaka province minister Bowman Lusambo has listed Minister of Technology and Science, Felix Mutati as a to witness to help weave him out of this protracted legal battles.
Lusambo hopes Mutati’s court testimony will help solidify his innocence claims in a case where he is being prosecuted on two counts of possession of properties reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
The Bulldozer is already on his defence on the case but says he will call four witnesses to prove his innocence.
Through his lawyer, Charles Changano, the former Kabushi lawmaker informed the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court that h4 wanted Mutati to come and testify before court.
He said the summons are not yet served, but he will serve on him to come to court and testify.
According to court documents, Lusambo on a date unknown but between May 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021 in Lusaka, jointly and whilst acting together with other persons unknown, allegedly possessed property number F/609/E/44/B/9, comprising of a single storey four (4) bedroom dwelling house, guest wing, gazebo and a car shed located in Chamba Valley-Lusaka, property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
In count two, it is alleged that Lusambo on a date unknown but between May 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021 in Lusaka, jointly and whilst acting together with others unknown did possessed an incomplete block of six (6) flats, constructed on property number F/609/E/50 in Chamba Valley Lusaka, properties reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
Meanwhile, a defence witness, Kapumba Franklin Zimba,46, an Evaluation Surveyor in private practice said Lusambo’s house was over valued, it was supposed to be K8.8 million and not K13.5 million as government surveyors put it.
Zimba said the print out of the house by government surveyors from the Ministry of land relied upon had a mistake.
He said according to the government report, the extent for farm 609 which the subdivision Lusambo has title to the land extent is stated as 0.8920 hectors.
Zimba stated that he found out that Lusambo’s farm 609 in Chamba Valley where his house is, holds an hector of 0.0892 and not 0.8920.
He said the government surveyors omitted a zero in front of eight and put zero at the end.
“I established that there was an error in the measurements by the government surveyors, so where you have an error in hectors it means what you have as market value is fraud.”
“In this particular case the error in the land estate has been overstated meaning the market value of the property has also been overstated,” he said.
He said to cure the error that everyone was operating on, he indicated the property number of Lusambo’s farm where he holds time, and also the three additional property numbers the development was carried out.
And when asked in cross examination if he found any errors or flaws in the manner government surveyors arrived at the reinstatement value. He responded in the negative.
“As I indicated earlier, I was supposed to bring four witnesses but only managed to bring one, I apologize, I want to summon and bring my witness, Felix Mutati, I failed today, but I will try, we are asking for an adjournment,” Changano said.
The court granted an adjournment and set June 2, 2025 for continued defence.
By Lucy Phiri
Kalemba May 10, 2025