EX- RAILWAY BOSS ATANGA, OTHERS DETAINED
FORMER Zambia Railways Limited chief executive officer Professor Muyenga Atanga and his co-accused persons were yesterday remanded in custody after the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court cancelled their police bond in a case they are charged with theft of more than 2, 000 goats.
Prof. Atanga, the husband of National Democratic Congress secretary general Bridget Atanga, is charged with Ivan Munsanje, Silven Mukonka, Thomas Sikapizye, Jedrick Mwiinde, and Joseph Sichimana for stock theft involving 2,006 goats valued at K277, 500, property of Mubanga Kanyama.
When the case came up before Lusaka Magistrate Sanford Ngobola yesterday, public prosecutor Samuel Zulu applied to the court to revoke Atanga’s police bond on grounds that he never bothered to appear before court and that his surety did not inform the court about the accused person’s absence.
Mr. Zulu said Atanga’s actions were deliberate and aimed at delaying justice because he knew that he was jointly charged with his co-accused persons for the subject criminal offence.
He said Atanga’s name did not appear on the first page of the indictment because of a typing error but it appeared in particulars of offence.
But Atanga’s lawyers argued that their client was present in court each time the case was called and that he had never been called an accused person in court because his name did not appear on the first page of the indictment although it appeared in the particulars of offence.
One of the lawyers Benjamin Mwewa said Atanga was merely escorting the fourth accused person Sikapizye to court until yesterday when he was included on the list of accused persons in the amended charge sheet. .
In his ruling, Magistrate Ngobola agreed with the defence lawyers that Atanga had never been called an accused person in court although his name appeared in the particulars of the offence in the previous indictment.
He said in the interest of justice, he gave all the accused persons a benefit of doubt and cancelled their police bond and replaced it with bail in their own recognizance in the sum of K20, 000 each with two working sureties also in their own recognizance in the like sum.