. Kapoko

By DELPHINE ZULU –
JAILED former Ministry of Health chief of human resources and development Henry Kapoko has been ordered to forfeit properties amounting to more than K730,000.
Lusaka Deputy High Court registrar, AridahChulu, sitting as magistrate, made the order on Wednesday afternoon after imposing a two-year jail sentence on Kapoko on six counts of abuse of office.
Among the properties to be confiscated are house number 25, Manda Hill Road, Olympia, and stand number LUS 3775 within Lusaka, plus some sundry items that include a conference table and others all worth K31,982.
“Upon hearing the application by the State to have the said properties mentioned in the first and second counts, I hereby order that they be forfeited to the State and, in addition, the amounts recovered in both counts should be forfeited to the State,” she said.
The State made the application following the conviction and
sentencing of Kapoko on Wednesday in a case in which he had been charged with six counts ofabuse of authority.
It was alleged that Kapoko, between October 1, 2007 and January 31, 2008,being a public officer in the Ministry of Health did, for purposes of obtaining advantage or by profit, abuse his office by influencing the awarding ofa contract to KANSMA Investment Limited to supply and deliver 15 HP desktop computers and printers amounting to K117,000.
In the second count, Kapoko was accused of using his office to influence the awarding of a contract to KANSMA Investment
Limited to supply and deliver to the MoH 3,600 reams paper worth K586,701.
The magistrate convicted and jailed Kapoko for two years, telling him he had divertedmoney meant to assist the nation, including the poor, due to his greed.