In a second attempt to have his trial for theft heard in a higher court, former Zambian president, Frederick Chiluba filed an appeal on Thursday in the country’s Supreme Court.
The appeal follows the failure last week of another appeal by Chiluba in the High Court which ordered he be tried, as planned, in a magistrates court for allegedly stealing millions of dollars while in office.
”We feel the judge misdirected himself in law on all grounds,” said his lawyer Robert Simeza.
Chiluba’s trial on 65 counts of theft was scheduled to have started on Friday.
Court documents show the main charge against him is the theft of 15-billion kwacha ($3-million) in cash from the Zambia National Commercial Bank in Lusaka.
Among seven others facing connected charges are bank officials and former government aides, among them Chiluba’s former intelligence chief, Xavier Chungu.
Chiluba is suspected of giving relatives and associates public money funneled through a London bank account used by Zambia’s intelligence service. He has also been implicated in a corrupt arms deal with Congo involving $20-million in missing state funds.
Chiluba has denied the allegations.
He was arrested in February after the Supreme Court ruled that his past immunity from prosecution should not be restored. The investigation into his conduct while in office was sparked by his own hand-picked successor, Levy Mwanawasa.
Chiluba, a former bus conductor and trade union organiser, was Zambia’s first democratically chosen president. He came to office in 1991 and served two five-year terms.
Zambia is one of the poorest countries in southern Africa. – Sapa-AP