Africa-Press – Zambia. FORMER Minister of Defence Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba has been found with a case to answer on 24 criminal charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.
Ruling on a case to answer, magistrate Stanford Ngobola said: “I find that the appearance of the evidence in the present case is such that there is a prima facie case.”
“I find the accused person with a case to answer on all the 24 counts and I accordingly put him on his defence,” said Magistrate Ngobola. Mwamba’s lawyer Sakwiba Sikota indicated that his client will give sworn evidence and call witnesses.
Mwamba, who is popularly known as GBM, is facing eight counts of conflict of interest, one count of money laundering and 15 counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Allegations in count one to eight are that Mwamba, between December 2012 and 2013, failed to disclose interest in writing, relating to eight contracts for the supply of shelter tents for the Zambia Army, valued at US$1,220,000, military regalia valued at US$1,608,095 and specialised watermanship equipment for the Zambia Army valued at US$4,294,264 which were awarded to Curzonn Global Limited and the said transactions affected the Ministry of Defence.
In count nine, Mwamba is accused of laundering US$632, 000 between January 1, 2020 and October 30, 2020. Allegations in count 10 to 24 are that Mwamba, between January 2015 and August 2021, posessed US$2,150,394.79 suspected to be ill-gotten. The accused will exculpate himself on March 1, 2023.
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