The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) plans to arrest Lusaka lawyer Lewis Mosho regarding the controversial sale of Shoprite Checkers shares in Zambia. Lewis Mosho is a senior partner in Lewis Nathan Advocates, which was the transfer secretary for Shoprite Checkers.
DEC deputy commissioner Lottie Mpundu refused to discuss the matter when contacted. And representatives of Shoprite Checkers in South Africa could not respond to press queries sent to them by press time.
But impeccable sources at the DEC have revealed that the commission plans to nab Mosho immediately three investigators who had gone to collect evidence from Shoprite Checkers headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa return to Zambia on July 4, 2012.
Three DEC investigators had gone to South Africa on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 to collect evidence from Shoprite Checkers. The shares under perspective are worth K49 billion.
The transfer saga of shares dates back to the year 2009 when the DEC ignored Mosho’s letter in which the lawyer was alerting the commission that Shoprite Checkers had instructed him to remit proceeds amounting to about K49 billion to a South African agent T. van Tonder without following procedure.
Mosho was prompted to alert the DEC because Shoprite Checkers had given him the instruction to remit the money in huge cash withdrawals, which was an anomaly.
However, the DEC ignored the letter of 2009, but the new Commissioner Alita Mbahwe has claimed to have seen it for the first time when the matter resurfaced recently.
The letter went missing from the DEC registry, but a probe revealed that Mosho’s correspondence was delivered to the DEC and received at both the main entrance and registry letter book. Copies of the documents from DEC indicate that the missing letter was properly received and acknowledged.
In 2011, Shoprite Checkers lodged a complaint with the DEC after a Kitwe High Court freezing order against Lewis Nathan Advocates was thrown out.
The DEC went on to freeze bank accounts for the Lewis Nathan Advocates and partner Mosho on allegations that they were investigating the sale of Shoprite Checkers shares.
However, after a judicial review, the Lusaka High Court ordered the DEC to release the frozen bank accounts on grounds that the commission over-stepped both the logic and confine of the probe.
The three investigators who are in South Africa are Frederick Chishala, Mathias Kamanga and a Mr Kanjela who is expected to be the first to return to Zambia on Sunday, July 1, 2012.
Shoprite Checkers is paying for all the expenses, but the move remains questionable because Shoprite Checkers is an interested party to the matter since the chain store firm had lost a court case in Kitwe over the sale of shares.
Sources at the DEC said the commission had also assigned the three officers to purchase complicated surveillance equipment, which is used to capture deleted computer data.
The DEC sources have said the commission is reluctant to use the computer surveillance equipment to check the authenticity of Shoprite Checkers’ evidence against law firm Lewis Nathan Advocates who are the transfer secretaries for the said shares.
I’m failing to see where Mosho has gone wrong here ?
This is very strange….normally all Lusaka Times articles are attributed to a source like ZNBC, QFM, Muvi Tv, Times of Zambia etc….this one does not have a source. has Lusaka Times started investigative reporting to the extent that it has started not putting the source of the news? The article doesn’t make sense. this is because the actual crime that our learned Lawyer is accused of is not published here. What’s published is just what the Lawyer accused Shoprite of doing. If its true he chewed Shoprite money, he will certainly be prosecuted. I can’t see any other way!
mosho wait they arrest u and then sue them 4 one billion kwacha too. The story does not make sense?
Boers are serious crooks.If anyone has been following this issue it seems they want mosho to attain for their misdeeds.I hope no one from dec has had their fingers oiled.Govt must take interest in this matter to protect their citizen.
Iam suprised that DEC could accepted to sponsored to SA by a complainant. SA has the scorpions that fight white collar crime/graft and a govt to govt between DEC & the scorpions would have been most approriate. However, If Mosho is not a criminal he should just provide the evidence of the (authenticated) shoprite instructions for transfer of funds and tsupporting funds transfer records/ bank statement. if he has this evidence he need not worry about a sponsored trip to SA.. Trouble is that this sounds like two conmen ( one zambian lawyer and the other an SA boer) scheming to make a rip off of the partner in crime only to find that they have both reaped each other off and the deal has gone terribly awry and bad. Beware of Lawyers and Boers. And apologies to the innocent ones.
If the letters that were delivered at DEC alerting them of that mammoth transfer of cash are authentic and well received, how come DEC wants to arrest Mosho? Makes no sense bane!
this is most useless article i have ever ready in my life. Whats the meaning of all these. This article makes no sense, cant figure out what the writer is trying to say.
#7 this is typical LT unprofessionally edited article…it’s the same way “Kachepa360.com” articles are presented without proper checking….. I just love blogging part on LT which beats all other websites….. when it comes to blogging….lol…hence am careful before i criticize anyone or any article….
DEC please change yo ka logo neya ku nursery school looks better
If Mosho had shown the letter to DEC of Shoprite Checkers giving him instructions to remit the money, then DEC ignored it why do they want to implicate him now
DEC should handle this matter very professionally otherwise Shoprite Checkers is trying to cover its tracks. I have dealt with South Africans regardless of color. They are crooked and their economy does not crack coz it built on a strong foundation.In all fairness why did DEC not act on the letter which the law firm sent alerting them of the transaction.
Interesting read, confused and senseless; if all said is true and Mosho alerted DEC why are we having this as an issue. I don’t see anything to suggest that DEC is planning to nab Mosho unless they have found new data from there sponsored trip and one wonders how genuine that data will be if not doctored one. I can see corruption at its best, they three have been tasked to purchase survillance equipment uh…. What procedures are being followed here. I just hope Shoprite is not paying for the equipment and programming it accordingly in favour of their case..just a thought though.
This story makes no sense at all. What is really the problem here, can someone please elaborate???
Problem is Mosho is a thief that lives beyond his means and has an over inflated opinion of himself. It has been established that about 800,000 shares were sold with Shoprite’s knowledge and Shoprite had no legal right to withhold payment of these dividends. But, around 1,700,000 shares – mostly sold in 2010 and 2011 – were sold at below their market price and I doubt Shoprite would have authorised Mosho to do this. I therefore think this case should be centred on professional negligence – why did Mosho sell the shares below the market price, did their selling brokers advise them that they were selling the shares for less than what they are worth, what did Mosho do with the proceeds from the sale of shares etc.