The jailing of a former first lady - Zambia
March 8th, 2009
Lusaka (Zambia) - Former Republican president, Frederick Chiluba's wife, Regina, was yesterday sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment. Chief resident magistrate, Charles Kafunda, jailed Regina after he found her guilty on five counts of failing to account for properties suspected to have been stolen.
Regina was acquitted on one count of failing to account for a motor vehicle suspected to have been unlawfully obtained, but the court also ordered the forfeiture of properties, mostly on the Copperbelt, and a Toshiba television set to the State. Mr Kafunda said there was enough evidence that Regina failed to account for the said properties during her defence, which he described as inconsistent.
This was in a case in which Regina was facing three counts of failing to account for properties involving US$188,000 suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained, and one count of failing to account for a motor vehicle in her possession.
The other charges were receiving a Toshiba 61-inch colour television set suspected to have been feloniously stolen or obtained and failing to account for cash amounting to K474 million suspected to have been stolen.
Mr Kafunda said the whole financial arrangement of Regina's businesses was designed to operate in a maze of accounts for purposes of disguising other money which came in her possession.
He said although Regina indicated that she was running a number of businesses involving cash, it was more important for her to have been transparent in her transactions than giving casual explanations without any proof.
The magistrate said her businesses appeared to have been a platform for transactions of trapping money laundering, acts which could cause serious injuries to the proper functions of the economy as funds from such schemes had a tendency of creating distortions in the economy.
On the television set, Mr Kafunda said the act of redirecting it from its owners, the Government, to Regina, a private person, amounted to theft as the television set was taken with the intention to deprive the Government.
He said the accused knew she was not entitled to retaining the television set because she was not married to Dr Chiluba then.
In an interview after his wife,Regina, had been whisked away by the Task Force on Corruption officers from the court premises to Lusaka Central prison, Dr Chiluba, who remained composed throughout the judgment, said it was a "passing phase".
And Regina's relatives and sympathisers expressed shock at the turn of events with others collapsing outside the court while Regina kept on smiling until she was ushered into the prison.
Earlier, in mitigation, defence lawyer, Robert Simeza, said the four counts of failing to account for property suspected to have been stolen were misdemeanours while one was a felony.
source.The Times of Zambia (Zambia) - March 5, 2009.