The former president of Zambia Frederick Chiluba was escorted to a police station and questioned by anti-corruption officers yesterday over claims that he looted millions of pounds — possibly hundreds of millions — from state coffers.
Riot police sealed off roads after several thousand onlookers gathered to watch the humiliation of a former head of state who was once the darling of the west.
Chiluba (59) who was democratically elected and ruled for a decade until stepping aside peacefully in December 2001, has denied wrongdoing and said the inquiry was a witch-hunt by the successor whom he anointed, President Levy Mwanawasa.
Lawyers accompanied him to the police station in the capital Lusaka. Mikatazo Wakumelo, a personal assistant, said Chiluba was likely to be charged.
The country’s anti-corruption task force said Chiluba could face more than 100 charges, including corruption and theft of a motor vehicle.
In addition to allegations that public money was funnelled to relatives via a London bank account used by Zambia’s intelligence service, Chiluba has been implicated in an arms deal in which £12-million went missing. Some 34 bank accounts have been closed, and assets seized.
Last year, Vera Chiluba attempted to sue her ex-husband for a £1,5-billion divorce settlement — a sum not far off the southern African country’s gross national product — claiming she knew the extent of his alleged fortune. Her petition was thrown out of court.
Chiluba’s election, after decades of rule by Kenneth Kaunda, led to a wave of optimism which dissipated as economic problems deepened.
Mwanawasa has offered a presidential pardon if his successor repays the money he allegedly stole, saying it would be expensive to imprison him in conditions befitting a former leader. – Guardian Unlimited Â