A Zambian court on Tuesday ordered the release of former president Frederick Chiluba on charges of stealing $4-million in state funds after the prosecution dropped the case.
However, the decision was procedural, with prosecution officials saying they planned to file the charges again after carrying out a full review, in an apparent bid to strengthen the case against Chiluba, who ruled Zambia for a decade from 1991.
State prosecutor Rosemary Nkonde told the court that the director of public prosecutions had recommended that the charge of stealing $4-million against Chiluba and his former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu be dropped.
”I have been instructed to enter a nolle prosequi in this case,” Nkonde told the court, without elaborating.
Nolle prosequi in Zambia is usually entered when the prosecution has insufficient evidence.
Magistrate Mwiinde Siavwapa said he had no option but to release Chiluba and Chungu.
”I hereby now discharge the accused persons accordingly,” Siavwapa said as he ordered Chiluba and Chungu to leave the dock in a tiny, packed courtroom.
Chiluba, visibly annoyed with the decision, walked over to his lawyers and talked to them for about 30 minutes.
The former president declined comment, but a senior prosecution official said Chiluba and Chungu would be re-arrested on the same charges.
The state has had difficulty prosecuting corruption cases, with the courts frequently acquitting the accused due to lack of evidence.
All the witnesses who have given evidence at the trial exonerated Chiluba and Chungu.
The former president will again appear in court on April 26 in another case in which he is accused of stealing $41-million from state coffers.
The anti-corruption unit probing the allegations against Chiluba issued a statement saying that the decision to drop the charges was based on ”the need for the prosecution to reorganise the cases” with chief public prosecutor Carly Sokoni, who has been reviewing the cases.
”This review is very important and in the interests of justice,” said anti-corruption unit spokesperson Mpozi Sinyangwe. — Sapa-AFP