Chiluba 'should face trial'

2008-02-15 12:44

Lusaka - A Zambian court ruled on Friday that former president Frederick Chiluba should face a corruption trial in May.

Chiluba would have to show cause why he should not be convicted on charges of theft of public funds and abuse of office, prosecutor Mutembo Nchito said after the ruling by Lusaka Magistrate Jones Chinyama.

"They have all been found with a case to answer," said the prosecutor as the three-year-old trial neared its end.

Mutembo closed his case against Chiluba and two businessman co-defendants in August last year. The trio was charged with the theft of about $500 000 in state funds.

The trial began in September 2004, but was repeatedly delayed by legal technicalities and by Chiluba's deteriorating heart problem. Thirty-five witnesses gave evidence against the former head of state.

Chiluba, 65, who ruled Zambia for 10 years until retiring in 2001, had denied the charges and said they were politically-motivated.

He also claimed the money he was accused of stealing had been his own, which he put into an account of the national intelligence agency for safekeeping.

The magistrate ruled that Chiluba would have to show how his private money landed up in a government account, and proved who gave it to him.

- AFP