By 
Lusaka Magistrate, Faides Hamaundu, has refused to grant bail to owners of the infamous 51 houses in Chalala area pending hearing of their appeal against the conviction and sentencing before the Economic and Financial Crimes division- High Court.
Charles Loyana, a senior accountant in the Ministry of Finance, and his wife, Susan Sinkala, an assistant accountant at the Ministry of Works and Supply were on June 30, 2023, found guilty of corrupt practices, involving concealment and possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime valued at over K37 million and sentenced to three years each.
The convicts filed an application for bail pending hearing of their appeal in the superior court.
At the determination of the said application on Friday, Magistrate Hamaundu denied the duo bail saying the Economic and Financial Crimes Court was a fast track court which would hear the matter before the three years sentence elapsed.
“This court managed to determine this matter within a year and three months despite reviving evidence from 16 state witnesses and seven defendants’ witnesses. 1 therefore find that three years meted on the convicts is long enough to fall under the exceptional circumstance. Application for bail is denied. Leave to appeal is granted,” she said.
The couple had filed a notice of appeal in the Lusaka High Court challenging their conviction and sentencing.
Loyana and Sinkala have raised 15 grounds of appeal, among them, that the trial Magistrate erred in law and facts when she convicted them of the subject offence, against a reasonable explanation, supported by the prosecution evidence of how the properties came into their possession.
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