Africa-Press – Zambia. The trial of three employees of Time Petroleum in Nakonde, accused of stealing company money amounting to K600,702.97, has commenced.
Benjamin Kafula, (A1), Cacious Mwape, (A2), and Moses Mulenga, (A3), have all denied the charge of theft by servant.
The money was allegedly stolen on the same day of the accident that claimed the life of the company’s General Manager, Vipin Ciwali, an Indian national.
Kafula, who was the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident, is alleged to have jointly stolen the money with his co-workers, Mwape and Mulenga earlier in the day before the occurrence of the accident.
The incident occurred on a day when the company intended to deposit money made from its sales from previous days.
Previously, a security company used to collect money from Time Petroleum’s Nakonde site to the bank at a fee.
However, Chete FM has learnt outside court that, on this particular day, the company employees, specifically Kafula and his immediate supervisor, Mr. Vipin Ciwali, intended to go and deposit the money on behalf of the company.
Tragically, an accident occurred less than a kilometer away from their office, resulting in Mr. Vipin’s death.
Kafula survived the accident, suspicions rose when it was discovered that the money meant to be deposited was nowhere to be seen.
During the trial, Chief Inspector Jonathan Phiri, a digital forensic analyst from the Zambia Police Service headquarters in Lusaka, testified that he received a request from Nakonde to analyze three mobile phones belonging to the accused persons.
The request was made to assist with the investigation, and as part of the analysis, Chief Inspector Phiri extracted call logs, messages, and calls from the phones.
Chief Inspector Phiri further testified that he traveled to Nakonde to perform an on-site extraction of CCTV footage from Time Petroleum’s filling station.
He found that the area was connected to 18 CCTV cameras, all of which were operational.
He extracted a total of 19 footage videos, which were deemed very relevant to the investigation.
The footage, which was played in court on Tuesday, showed Vipin coming from the direction of a warehouse with Kafula while it was raining.
Vipin briefly stepped out, and Kafula who is seen carrying a plastic bag with staff in it, went to the blue van, left the Plastic inside the car and went to a room behind.
Later, another man, accused number three in the matter, was seen joining him to the room.
The footage also showed that at 11:51:19 seconds, the CCTV camera did not capture anything due to an error or system failure.
However, at 11:54, accused number two was seen coming out of the same car where Kafula was seen leaving a plastic bag, but this time, he came out of the car with a black bag and running to the same room behind where accused numbers one and three were.
Shortly after, accused number one came out of the room and went
to the car, while accused number three went back to the fuel pump.
The last footage viewed in court showed accused number two leaving the premises with the same black bag.
Simon Kapembwa Sikazwe, a dispatch clerk for Time Petroleum Limited, also testified in court.
He stated that after the accident, they travelled to Nakonde where he found other company employees from Lusaka who came to pick the body.
It was during that time they discovered that the pump machine responsible for measurements was not functioning properly, which raised suspicions.
They decided to check the CCTV footage and noticed something suspicious after seeing accused number three in a suspicious footage.
He further testified that accused number three was asked to supervise the site while they continued with arrangements to carry the body and investigate.
Later, accused number three was picked up by the police and admitted carrying the money, saying he gave some of it to a named mobile money agent for depositing.
The witness also testified that the police recovered the said amount from the agent as well as from accused number three.
The defense lawyer, Allan Masabi, cross-examined both witnesses, and the matter has been adjourned to May 28 for continued trial.
About six more witnesses are set to testify in the case.
Accused numbers one and three are remanded in custody, while accused number two is on bail.
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