A top Zambian government official was arrested and charged with corruption and abuse of office, an spokesperson for Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said on Thursday.
Webster Walubisha, a senior permanent secretary in the office of the vice-president, was arrested and charged on Wednesday morning by the ACC, said Silwaba Mwaanga.
”He will appear in court next week on Wednesday,” Mwaanga said.
Walubisha was release on bail to an amount still to be set.
He is the second high-ranking official serving under President Levy Mwanawasa to be arrested and charged with corruption and abuse of office.
Walubisha protested his innocence: ”My arrest is malicious, designed to tarnish the image senior officers in government.”
The ACC arrested Mwanawasa’s press aide Arthur Yoyo in late 2002 and charged him with corruption and abuse of office before he was suspended from his position pending his court case.
The arrests are independent of those by an anti-corruption task force, set up by Mwanawasa to probe the affairs of former president Frederick Chiluba, who faces various charges of corruption, theft and abuse of office amounting to about $45-million.
Former military commander Wilford Funjika was arrested and charged with corruption on Tuesday for allegedly engaging in illegal business deals while serving under Chiluba.
Last week, Chiluba’s former press aide Richard Sakala was jailed for five years by the magistrates’ court for theft of government vehicles and properties, abuse of office and corruption. — Sapa-AFP