•SUSPENDED Copperbelt Police chief Mary Tembo (right) interacts with her lawyers Milner Katolo (centre) and Derrick Mulenga after a court session at the Ndola Magistrates’ Court. Picture by CHATULA KAMPO

By CHATULA KAMPO –
A WITNESS has told a Ndola Magistrates’ Court that Grizzly Mining did not donate the Toyota Corolla to suspended Copperbelt Police Chief Mary Tembo but lent it to the Police to replace the Toyota Cressida that the company failed to repair.
Grizzly Mining Limited chairperson and managing director in charge of administration Abdoul Ba, 47, told Ndola chief resident magistrate Paul Chisha that his company lent the police the Toyota Corolla to replace the Cressida they failed to repair.
Mr Ba told the court that Tembo in December 2012 called him asking if the company could help the police repair  two  police vehicles.
The witness was testifying in a case in which Tembo, 53, of 4 Bukafu Road in Ndola and Plot 37 Lusaka West farms in Lusaka is charged with two counts of abuse of authority of office.
Mr Ba told the court the general manager Caroline Sampa called him to ask if he was aware of the two police vehicles that were brought to be repaired by the company.
“Ms Sampa went ahead and did all the procedure. She later came  back to me and told me that the Toyota Cressida  could not be  worked on because it was old and finished and that the cost of putting it back on the road was very high. I told her that it was okay and she wrote on the request letter from the  police on the details for the Toyota Cressida as ‘do not repair’,”  he told the court.
Mr Ba told the court  that  the transport officer later told him that the accused had asked for an alternative since the other vehicle could not be repaired.
“I told him that if he had any alternative, he could assist. He asked me if we can give the police the scrap Toyota corolla, I told him to go ahead and assist them but not to donate,” he said.
The witness told the court that the Toyota corolla was taken back to the company in August last year and that after three days; there were some documents that were displayed on Muvi Television News that his company had donated a vehicle to Tembo.
Mr Ba told the court that punitive action was taken against the transport officer and human resources for the writing a letter of donation to the accused without authority.
In cross examination, Defence lawyer Derrick Mulenga asked the witness if the accused personally asked for a donation from Grizzly mining but the witness denied.
When asked again why the company did not request for a letter from the police asking for a vehicle, Mr Ba said the Toyota corolla was a scrap asset which did not require a letter when borrowed.
He also told the court that his company never gave donations to individual officers but institutions in public interest.