A Zambian court on Monday adjourned the trial of former president Frederick Chiluba, who is facing charges of corruption and abuse of office during his decade in power, with the magistrate rapping the prosecution for being disorganised.
”I am not impressed at all,” Magistrate Jones Chinyama said as he adjourned the case to March 1 because the prosecution was not ready to proceed.
The prosecution has been in disarray since President Levy Mwanawasa suspended the country’s top prosecutor for allegedly mishandling the corruption cases involving Chiluba.
The state has hired two private prosecutors to handle the case.
An immaculately dressed Chiluba sat in the dock alongside six other accused persons on Monday for about 20 minutes before the case was adjourned.
Chiluba and six others have been charged with corruption, abuse of office and the theft of more than $40-million of state funds during his tenure from 1991 to 2001.
Chiluba has denied the charges.
Several former officials who served under Chiluba have been arrested or are being investigated for their role in the ”plunder of national resources”.
Chiluba and former intelligence boss Xavier Chungu will appear in court in another corruption trial next month, involving $4-million of state funds allegedly stolen from the state-run Zambia National Commercial Bank.
A Zambian high court ruled at the end of January that Chiluba abused his powers when he gave two houses to his lawyers as reward for handling his private legal cases when he was president. — Sapa-AFP