.Mumba

By DELPHINE ZULU –
FORMER vice-president Nevers Mumba has opted to remain silent in a case where the court found him with a case to answer on two counts of abuse of authority of office when he served as Zambia’s ambassador to Canada.
Ndola Industrial Relations Court deputy registrar Joshua Banda, sitting as magistrate in Lusaka, has since set January 12, 2018 as the date he will deliver judgment in view of the accused’s decision not to open his defence.
This is in a matter where Mumba was facing three counts of abuse of authority of office but one was dropped while in the other count relating to wilful failure to comply with procedure he was acquitted.
When the matter came up for commencement of defence yesterday, his lawyers Irene Kunda and Jonas Zimba told the court that their client would not give his side of the story as one of his rights once found with a case to answer.
The lawyers further said Mumba would not prepare any written submissions but would rely on evidence on record.
Particulars in count one allege that Mumba as ambassador wilfully failed to comply with laid-down procedures in receiving and distributing 122,229,89 Canadian dollars, a donation to the Zambian Government from a Canadian private company Barrick Gold Corporation, in 2011.
In count two, Mumba between October 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, being ambassador, did abuse his authority of office by awarding a contract for electric work at the Zambia High Commission residence in Canada to RestCon, a Canadian-based private company amounting to 9,000 Canadian dollars.
In the last count, he is alleged to have abused his authority of office between
October 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010 by awarding a contract for carpet cleaning to Argos Carpet Limited at 19,850 Canadian dollars without following laid-down procedures.