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Lusaka businessman, Sedrick Kasanda, may be prosecuted for fraudulent dealings in minerals and tax invasion.
According to the submissions by the Attorney-General Mulilo Kabesha, the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) lawfully seized Kasanda’s Ibex Hill house and properties thereon which included cars, as investigations revealed an element of fraudulent dealing in minerals and his company evading tax.
Read more: Lusaka businessman, Kasanda, cries out over detention at Twin Palm police station
The Attorney-General said it was not right for Kasanda to claim that the seized properties were legitimately acquired before he was cleared in the investigations or criminal proceedings that may ensue.
“The respondent shall aver at trial that the action by DEC to seize the property in question for purposes of Investigations into suspect tax evasion and money laundering does not amount to compulsory acquisition as the property may later be returned to the petitioner subject to the outcome of the investigations,” Kabesha submitted.
This was in response to Kasanda’s petition challenging the confiscation of his property filed in the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.
He said on August 17, 2023, after a search was conducted at his residence, the State seized the property known as Plot No. 19 Main Street Ibex Hill Lusaka and all those properties situated thereon.
The said seizure was allegedly executed under the Authority of section 15 of the Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 14 of 2001, citing reasonable grounds to believe that the properties are liable to seizure.
Kasanda is jointly charged with four others for espionage linked to the gold gate scandal involving over US$5.6 million at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in August, 2023.
The petitioner lamented that it was unjust for the State to confiscate his properties based on suspicion and not evidence.
Kasanda is seeking among other reliefs, an order that the seizure of his properties by DEC without him being charged or tried for any wrongdoing related to the Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 14 of 2001 or the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act No. 35 of 2021, violates his human right to be presumed innocent.
He asked the Court to compel DEC to return all his properties that were seized.
Kasanda is demanding damages for the anguish and pain his family endured and the loss of use of the properties.
He also wants the State to pay him damages for trespass to his property.
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