Africa-Press – Zambia. WE have information of where the stolen assets are, reveals Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha. And justice minister Mulambo Haimbe says Zambians need closure over stolen assets.
Answering a question from The Mast during a media briefing on the sidelines of the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group Conference at Avani Hotel on Saturday, Kabesha appealed to former leaders in the PF government who may have looted state resources to own up.
“Yes we have information (of where the stolen assets are) but these are still under investigations. But we have information of course. But we have an idea and I can assure you that we have. I can only appeal to those that know that they should just come and confess of there assets so that they can be part of the assets recovery,” said Kabesha.
And Haimbe said the justice system was facing challenges such as staffing levels and infrastructure hence the delay in disposing of cases. He said the UPND government has performed extremely well with regards human rights.
“We have been in office for one year. The gauge we can use is that the Human Rights Commission has not issued an adverse reports in this administration that we have. Just not too long ago government received various adverse reports, for instance police abuse, extrajudicial killings that were taking place at highest levels of human rights abuse that you can think of. But a lot has been done to ensure that human rights are being followed. I may be very ambitious but I would put ourselves at over 100 per cent,” Haimbe said.
He advised Zambians to read and learn the law and their human rights as the accused are supposed to be subjected to minimal detention. Haimbe however, said due to staffing and infrastructure levels in the judicial system many suspects may be detained longer until they appear before court.
He indicated that those faced with financial crimes are not before courts for convictions but to merely exculpate themselves. “If they are acquitted so be it. If they are convicted so be it. But the focus should not be in convictions but the process (exculpation),” said Haimbe.
The ESAAMLG conference which had three sections namely the 22nd Council of Ministers, 44th Task Force of Senior Officials and the 5th Public/Private Sector Dialogue meetings closed on Saturday.
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