NPA moves to seize Malanji’s tainted property after grand theft conviction
THE National Prosecution Authority (NPA) has made a checkmate move to seize luxury properties and helicopters belonging to former Foreign Affairs Minister and once PF’s free-spending Bonanza, Joe Malanji, following his four years conviction for owning properties dubiously.
According to a sworn affidavit by Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) top investigator Mukelabai Kwaleyela, the assets including a Bell 430, a Bell 206 Jet Ranger and three mansions in Lusaka’s Silverest Gardens, are tainted property and liable for forfeiture to the State.
“I have been further advised by Counsel for the Applicant and verily believe the same to be true that this is a proper case in which this Honourable Court can order that the cited properties be forfeited to the State as the properties are proceeds of crime and tainted property,” Kwaleyela stated.
The seizure follows Malanji’s four-year prison sentence handed down by the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.
EFCC also convicted co-accused, former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba, who received three years for irregularly transferring K108 million for the Zambian chancery in Turkey.
Both men now face the grim reality of serving time in bright orange prison uniforms, leaving behind their lavish lifestyles.
Court documents revealed that Malanji, secretly pocketed public funds amounting to US$11 million into personal accounts.
At one point, he returned from Istanbul aboard a presidential jet carrying US$4.6 million in two bags, which investigators later traced to his living room.
The helicopters were initially hidden in South Africa and Zimbabwe before being recovered under court orders.
Magistrate Irene Wishimanga noted that Malanji could not provide any legitimate proof of income for the properties and relied on forged documents and false claims of a Congo-based business.
Evidence showed his company, Gibson Power Systems, was financially insolvent, contradicting his claims that it funded his acquisitions.
Yamba, on the other hand, was found guilty of authorising K154,201,197 for the purchase of a chancery in Turkey without obtaining approvals from Parliament, the Attorney General, or the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA).
Meanwhile, DEC Director General Nason Banda revealed that the Commission is conducting further investigations with high chances of capturing many other high – profile personalities involved in related financial crimes and details will be availed upon conclusion.
“These convictions signal a new era where complex transnational organised crimes actuated by public officers will be met with even more sophisticated and determined investigative and prosecutorial interventions,” Banda said today.
“The public may wish to note that by the end of the investigative processes, more money linked to the matter remains unaccounted for.”
By George Musonda
Kalemba September 5, 2025