A Lusaka man purporting to be a forensic expert from the Zambia Informatioon and Communications Technologies (ZICTA) has been found guilty of contempt of court after telling lies on oath.
This is in a case where Lusaka lawyer Keith Mweemba has been accused of trying to corrupt a public officer Monica Chipanta who is from the Director of Public Prosecutions office in Lusaka.
Cheelo was presented as a key state witness by prosecutors from the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), to adduce evidence that he analysed data in form of a voice recording from a mobile that was secretly used to record Keith Mweemba.
But on Friday last week, Lusaka Magistrate Lameck Mwale found Cheelo guilty of contempt of court after confessing that he (Cheelo) told the court lies on oath.
Cheelo lied to the court that he was a qualified Information Technology expert from ZICTA and that he had trained in Zambia and abroad when in fact he had non of those credentials.
“I have worked for ZICTA for seven years and I am 29 years old. I have a diploma in computer programming from NIPA and I happen to be a forensic expert,” he said.
Cheelo was trying to substantiate that he was a computer forensic expert from ZICTA and that he was qualified to examine and authenticate a mobile phone recording in which lawyer Keith Mweemba was purported to have attempted to corrupt an officer from the DPP’s office.
But during cross examination, defence lawyer Makebi Zulu asked Cheelo to prove his academic qualifications but he gave conflicting statements. This was after the lawyer sought clarifications from Cheelo on his true qualifications.
“I told the court that I studied certificate in Information programming and System (CIPS), but I forgot that it was a Diploma in Information Programming Systems,” Cheelo said.
But when the defence asked Cheelo to furnish the court with originals of his qualifications, Cheelo failed to provide his papers claiming that his employers had stopped him from tendering them as evidence in court because it was a security breach.
“I was ordered by the court to bring my diploma and I understood that to be an order. I have not brought it to court. My employers have told me not to bring it. I have a diploma, the diploma is at home. I am declining to answer. I wish to apologise to this court that I mixed up about NIPA and I have never been there, hence I cannot produce the documents as ordered by this court. It is true I have never been to NIPA. I don’t have CIPS and that is where the mix up is. I also don’t have DIPS. Thats all part of the mix up. When I said that my diploma was at home, it was a lie and I lied on oath. My diploma was not at home and I was not drunk when I said all these things,” Cheelo told the court when queried by the defence.
Cheelo said it was not the first time he was uttering falsehoods in court since he also gave false evidence in another court involving journalists Clayson Hamasaka and Thomas Zyambo.
“This is not the first time I am testifying in court. I was testifying before honourable Musukwa and if I said I had a diploma, then it was also a lie. I am on oath to say the truth and yes I broke the oath to say I had these qualifications. I remember saying I am an expert in this field, but you are right I am not an expert since I don’t have qualifications in this field. The only qualifications I have are seminars, workshops and trainings,” Cheelo said.
Cheelo said he was not sure whether the purported recoding of Mweemba was accurate or not because he was not qualified.
“With regards to P2 (evidence), I may or may not be right. I guess that I may not be right or accurate because I am not qualified in this field. I hope to be qualified someday and I didn’t analyse the phone used to record and the true picture of what transpired can only be gotten from the phone and not the file I analysed,” he said.
At this moment, the defence applied that Cheelo be cited for contempt of court for deliberately telling lies and subverting the course of justice.
The application by the defence followed an earlier application to declare Cheelo a refractory (disobedient) witness after he had refused to answer questions on oath. He was subsequently sent to remand prison at Lusaka Central Prison.
And another defence lawyer, Gilbert Phiri further made an application to cite Cheelo for contempt and Magistrate Lameck Mwale ruled in favour of the defence.
“I have looked at the record and answers that the witness has given and I agree with the defence application that the witness is in contempt of court,” magistrate Mwale said.
Magistrate Mwale instructed the state to draft necessary papers for Cheelo’s perjury offence.
According to the legal experts and sources within LAZ, perjury is the offence of giving false evidence or evidence which may be true but which the person giving it does not believe to be true and it is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment or a fine or both.
Dunderheads leading blind followers……while the learned docile Zambians faithfully fighting and insulting each other on LT ………………..
ooh ok,, the guy is cheelo, he is tonga, Tongas are NOT lairs, lying is not in their DNA… The only tonga conman i know is VJ… the rest of the tribe is okay
I dont know what entered into poor cheelo to try this trick.. if it was bemba in this case everything would have gone according to plan..
I feel for Cheelo( ghost) now he is going to jail
Can anything good come out of NIPA?
dont even point a finger at NIPA,,, the guy was never at NIPA.. leave NIPA alone
@ Ndobo At least he admitted and said the truth, unlike some from some tribes. Ati kufwa na no.
Masumba in remand prison waiting for sentencing and also cage this chap for telling lies in court?
But ACC also is the biggest loser here and not the guy really, i am sure there is something behind the scenes…How can we be guaranteed that ACC is still a reputable entity?????????
Ndobo, Tonga men can lie what are you saying?
What a f**k Head!!!!
Mutembo Nchito and his co-horts of failures are really incopenetant. How can they take such a witness to court in a high profile case without even vetting the witness themselves.
Could they not have asked the witness to produce at least proof of a CV and a certified certificate? This is what even simple companies hiring people do. This is level of incpenetency being displayed at this level is extremely shocking and worrying !!
My brother/sister, i doubt that this was a case where Mutembo Nchito and company did not check Cheelo’s qualifications. i think they intended to ‘fix’ this lawyer guy. Along the way he might have upset one of the cartel members. Sad reading what is happening in the country.
The antonyms of formidable are poor, powerless, harmless, etc. In case of dpp nchito whom fred mmembe exhorted as formidable he is actually harmless, poor and powerless in the knowledge of his job. Formidable in the art of PERSECUTION; YES.
Eish ! Now thats sad.May he dance to the tune of the law.
Emukwai!!!
This guy cant be this stup.id. There is more to than meet the eye. I dont believe the guy. I think he is working for the OP he might even been involved in the blocking of ZWD.
hahahaha!!!! but uyu nyina nyozi zooona,how do you land yourself in such a mess? for whose sake? iyayi,ayende chabe kusogolo mwami.bakazi bake tizatandiza kuchinda
Yaba, wandepaula!
Iwe chi kolwelokwindi ukutumpa! Koma wansekesha mwe!
I have laughed my lungs out…..lol
I have not laughed this hard in a very long time. Chloroquin, you need your head checked urgently!!
Tell me this is not true!! How can ACC use a fake person as a witness? Actually, de ACC also shud charge this chap 4 misleading public officers according to the ACC Act!! Or sum1 in ACC who didn’t do their job 2 pick such a perosn as an expert witness shud b fired immediately!! This is not good 4 de Corporate image of such an important body in de Country!
What is ZICTA saying? Is this guy their employee? and what are is real qualifications?.
SHAME; he is ready to have innocent men hanged without thinking about their children and other dependants. He is cruel, and should be fixed.
Yaba – ba ACC, why did you chose to destroy someone’s life like this eh! Please verify your witnesses – ask appropriate questions. Poor guy is now going to serve prison if the judges wont feel sorry for him…! Too bad!
Madam Rosewyn Wandi must resign for incompetence. How can the entire ACC present a fake witness? This shows how the entire ACC has been reduced to a PF institution. Mutembo Nchito must be ashamed as well. This is what happens when you want to victimise innocent people. The truth always comes out. We can clearly see that the state is now embarrassed. Who is going to have confidence in the ACC and the DPP? It seems these two institutions are no longer towing the professional line but instead towing that of the PF in order to fulfil Sata’s desires of victimising people. This will not take Sata anywhere. Instead he will just embarrass himself. How do you present a fake witness, did they assume the defence would not cross-examine the idio.t? This is a very juicy piece of news. Sata exposed.
7 years is waiting in prison
What is the difference between ACC and ZAMBEEF?
it was just a Mix-up, lol
hahahahahaha! In whose interest was this quack working?
Unfortunately, 7 years is waiting. Then they kill and bury someone first degree murder is waiting for you chaps.
Uyu needs to to confess to nation why he lied and who sent him.
We have a record someone again hired a fake witness from Nigeria?
Public arrest is coming very soon. Mwanya
Yes, who sent this fyototo to go and lie on oath and why?? Let us establish the MOTIVE behind his lies. Its not enough to say ‘I lied’. Question is why lie. Whats the ‘hook’ benefit of him lying?
Masumba is an example and this chap should follow suit
Balase Bebeto boi…
its not true that they didn’t the qualification of this guy..its only that the defence lawyers are very competent and found a loop hole where the prosecution team thought it was going to be a simple issue
castrate that *****..atase..
I hope he gets 7 years in jail plus the maximum fine, he is simply heartless. What if the accused person could not afford a good Lawyer.
The guy is in employment. How did he get his job. Did he also lie to the interviewer that his diploma was at home? Scandalous! And he is not even Bemba for crying out loud.
This is extremely shameful! State witness, my foot. How could they parade a phoney like that. Wasting State resources & court time. SEVEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT & A hefty FINE would do to deter these cadres from occupying these offices & having a lions courage to stand in court as a “credible witness”.
This sounds more like comedy than a court case. Awe sure fye…
Do u know how many problems your name gave me when I was learning Bemba at primary school? I had an argument with the teacher because I told him it meant “the dry one has given birth”. Some of the class including bembas agreed with me
The bemba teacher told me “iwe chi Phiri stop confusing my class”
This Circus will never end until another government surfaces to get rid of these heartless jokers.
In part of confession he says ‘The only qualifications I have are seminars, workshops and trainings,” Cheelo said.
Since when did seminars, workshops and trainings become qualifications? Even in his confession he kept on lying—‘mix up’ NO that’s was pure lie.
I would suggest that this before the powers that be slap a sentence on him, let him be examined – I strongly suspect there is something if not everything wrong with his mental faculties. Kuti mwakaka wakaele
If they asked this chap to bring evidence for the seminarrs attended, his response will ‘thats where the misunderstanding is, I did not attend any seminars’.
Very embarrasing for Nchito. i thought the DPP was part of the crack squad but the whole thing has just blown in his face. i feel sorry for the ACC officers whi have to through these unprofessional nosense. Da- le, what are you saying now?
It appears that Counsel Mweemba was puting fire on the ACC on the cases he defended and ACC kept loosing no wonder now that they want to fix him. Counsel Mweemba has been defending opposition leaders very well and succesful and so they have been feeling his heat. My learned friend Zaza and Kamanga why are you allowing your selves to be used. Zaza remember you have an intention of contesting as an MP in Livingstone but I wonder what type of MP you could with this type of mentality. Am dispointed with you counsel.