By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
INCARCERATED former Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) finance director Regina Mwale, who was on Tuesday jailed for 18 months for abuse of authority, has appealed to the Lusaka High Court against the
conviction.
Mwale argues that principle magistrate Obister Musukwa, who sentenced her to 18 months on each of the two counts of abuse she was found guilty of, erred in law and fact.
She says in her two grounds of appeal she filed in the subordinate court that the trial magistrate erred in law and fact by convicting her when there was insufficient evidence against her.
Mwale through her lawyer Mulilo Kabesha has submitted that magistrate Musukwa erred in law and fact when he found her guilty of abusing authority when she was just implementing what was already agreed.
Mr Kabesha said more grounds of appeal would be filed after perusing through the records.
Magistrate Musukwa is yet to set a date for hearing of Mwale’s application for bail pending the determination of her appeal by the High Court.
Mwale was jointly charged with former ZRL chief executive officer Clive Chirwa, who apart from the two counts of abuse of authority, was charged with failure to disclose interest when he
allegedly recommended his company, Clavel Incorporated Limited, to train key personnel at ZRL.
The court acquitted Professor Chirwa on grounds that there was no evidence linking him to having instructed ZRL management to pay for his accommodation at Fallsway Apartments at an amount that was above his threshold.
Mwale between November 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012 authorised payment of K289,128.84 to Fallsway Apartments of Lusaka for Prof Chirwa’s accommodation without following laid-down procedures.
In another court case involving former Zambia Daily Mail deputy managing director, Davis Mataka, a witness testified in the Lusaka magistrates’ court that the Zambian newspaper had distribution challenges which resulted in Mataka instructing him to insert the paper in the Zambia Daily Mail publications for easy distribution.
The case involves former Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Sam Phiri, consultant Ngande Mwanajiti and Mataka who are charged with alleged abuse of authority and
unlawful printing and publication of a newspaper.
They are alleged to have in 2011, diverted K195,000 from the Public Media Support Fund.
When the matter came up for continued trial before chief resident magistrate Aridah Chulu yesterday, former Zambia Daily Mail production manager Sunday Conix Kalupa  told the court that he received instructions from his supervisor (Mataka) to ensure that the printing press and printing section were in good state because they were going to be conducting extra works.