Kambwili awaits contempt ruling
THE State has closed its contempt of court case against jailed National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili, awaiting ruling on case to answer this December.
In this case Kambwili is charged with one count of contempt of court for allegedly altering details of directors for Mwamona Engineering Technical Services (METS) Limited at the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA); after the main forgery case in which he was jailed two years a fortnight ago, was already active before court.
He is accused of obstructing his forgery and uttering false documents case before Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba by lodging an altered ‘no change return’ (form 71) at PACRA on March 6, 2018.
The altered document was the main bone of contention in the forgery case in which it was indicated that his son Mwamba was one of the directors in METS and yet the latter was a minor aged eight when the company was registered in 2001 and could not be a director at law.
In his judgment on October 14, 2020, Mr. Simusamba found that the State had proved during trial that the national registration card (NRC) number assigned to Mwamba then belonged to Kambwili’s sister Sampa- a Copperbelt based teacher.
In the altered document, Mwamba’s name has changed from the initial Mwamba Chishimba to Mwamba Kambwili with a different NRC number.
The contempt case came up yesterday before Magistrate Nsunge Chanda and after re-examination of last prosecution witness Stanley Mumbula- a police officer, State Advocate Mukuma Chipawa told the court that they had closed their case and will rely on evidence before court.
Ms. Chanda then set November 10, 2020 as date for filing of submissions and December 10, 2020 as date for ruling.
Meanwhile, Kambwili was yesterday afternoon released on cash bail pending appeal from Kamwala Remand Correctional Facility where he spent 13 nights, after meeting bail conditions including paying a total of K300,000 with two working sureties from reputable organisations.
Apart from the two cases, Kambwili, his son Mwamba, METS, and two Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) employees Lukwesa Musonda Brano and Mulenga Makasa Kapilima are charged with one count of making a document without authority, one count of uttering a false document, two counts of obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretenses. Kambwili is also facing 35 counts of being in possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime before Principal Resident Magistrate Mwaka Mikalile.
Kambwili is also facing one count of expressing or showing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons because of race contrary to Section 70 (1) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia before Magistrate Jenipher Bwalya.
All the cases are still before the respective courts.