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The Economic and Financial Crimes Court-High Court division has upheld the two years sentence of former ZamPost Master-General, Macpherson Chanda, and two others for theft by public servant s nvolving over K300 million
Chanda was jailed together with two former Zampost directors, Best Mwaiche and Isaac Mwaichi in July,2022, after the Ndola Magistrate Court found them guilty of diverting Social Cash Transfer funds into a fixed deposit account for purposes of accruing interest without consent from the Ministry of Community Development.
The Ndola Magistrate Kaunda Sakwanda ordered the Attorney -General to recover, on behalf of the State, the K335 million funds.
The trio, however, appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Court (EFCC) against the entire sentencing contending that the trial court erred in law and fact to find them guilty of theft as they did not benefit from the principal monies or interest accrued but diverted the money into the fixed deposit account out of good faith.
The Anti-Corruption Commission also appealed against the sentence stating that a two years simple imprisonment was not enough compared to the prejudice suffered by the beneficiaries who were delayed to receive the funds.
The Superior Court sitting as Judges Ann Malata-Ononuju, Pixie Yangailo and Vincent Siloka adjudicated that the trial Magistrate was on firm ground to sentence the appellants for theft by public servant because they moved the funds into a fixed deposit account without approval from government.
The court condemned fraudulent diversion of funds without approval from the Ministry or the Treasury.
The court further said the trio decided to retain to Zampost the interest on the principal monies instead of depositing into the treasury as required by the provisions of the public finance.
Judge Ononuju, however, disagreed with the amount slammed on the appellants stating that there was no evidence on record to show extent of the damage or injury caused on the beneficiaries by their actions.
She said it was not clear how the trial Magistrate arrived at the K335 million judgement debt.
She further stated that it was a fact that the appellants did not directly benefit from the funds as the principal amount was disbursed to the beneficiaries and the interest maintained by Zampost.
The Court, therefore, referred to the High Court deputy registrar for assessment of the amount due from the interest which should be paid by Zampost to the treasury.
The court issued a warrant of arrest for the trio who were not before court.
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