The Lusaka High Court has granted former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji a K10 000 kwacha bail and ordered him to provide two working sureties.
Lusaka Lawyer Makebi Zulu has confirmed that his client has been given bail in a ruling delivered in the chambers. Mr. Zulu said the demand by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for Mr. Malanji to give them documents they intend to use in the trial has been set aside as being illegal, adding that the same conditions given to Mr. Malanji apply to former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba.
Mr. Malanji is jointly charged with Mr. Yamba for willful failure to comply with procedure on supplementary expenditure. He is also charged for being in possession of properties, which are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) officials in Kitwe’s Kwacha Constituency have threatened to protest over the arresting of former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji for corruption allegations.
The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) on Tuesday arrested Mr. Malanji ,the Kwacha Member of Parliament, together with former Secretary to Treasury Dr. Fredson Yamba in Lusaka.
Mr. Malanji is charged for alleged corruption activities suspected to have happened between January 1st, 2021, and August 31, 2021.
PF officials led by Kwacha Constituency Chairman Alex Chembo said the party is surprised and saddened over Mr. Malanji’s arrest and detention.
Mr. Chembo, the immediate past Kwacha Ward Councilor, said it was unfortunate that Mr. Malanji has remained in detention since his arrest on Tuesday without appearing in court.
He said Mr. Malanji’s arrest amounts to political persecution and is aimed at drifting people’s attention away from matters of development like the economy.
“As PF officials and members in Kwacha constituency, we are not happy over the arrest of Honourable Joe Malanji and why they are not taking him to court,” Mr. Chembo said.
According to a statement released to the media, DEC said Mr. Malanji and Dr. Yamba were arrested for authorizing the transfer of Money to the Zambian Turkish Embassy without the following procedure.
“Kwacha and Kitwe will rise and walk as far as Lusaka to oppose this kind of persecution. These arrests are getting out of hand and we are not happy at all,” said Mr. Chembo who was flanked by Kwacha Ward Chairman Joseph Chileshe.
“If they have found Mr. Malanji with a case let him appear in court. It is not right that they have kept our Honourable in police since he was arrested on Tuesday,” Mr Chileshe added.
The former Foreign Affairs Minister is charged for alleged corruption activities which happened between January 1st, 2021, and August 31, 2021.
The court has set December 9, 2021 as the date on which the ruling will be made.
In this matter, Mr. Malanji is in the first count jointly charged with former Secretary to the Treasury, Fredson Yamba on charges of willful failure to comply with the law when they transferred over K154.2 million to the Zambian mission in Turkey without following the law on supplementary expenditure as provided by article 203 of the Zambian constitution.
On the other charges Mr. Malanji is accused of possession of various properties reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime among them a helicopter which he purchased at 1.4 Million Dollars.
“….Kwacha and Kitwe will rise and walk as far as Lusaka to oppose this kind of persecution. These arrests are getting out of hand and we are not happy at all,”
Go ahead , ………
We will mobilise the 2.8 million to counter protest for the corruption fight to be accelerated which they voted for… ……….
Stage managed protests by those who have been picking bread crumbs from Malanji’s table.
Stupid protest action for what benefit? Solidarity with embezzlement and corrupt practices by the arrested and charged persons? People never cease to amaze in meaningless threats of folly! National resources were being raped from all angles and when suspects are arrested some people want to rise against law enforcement agencies!
Case closed we know the drill….he will never see the inside of Jail
Now zambians will know what a one party dictatorship state is under this evil regime
Now zambians will know what a one party dlctatorship state is under this evil regime
Now zambians will know what a one party dlktatorship state is under this eviI regime
Useless courts and detectives. Always acting on rumours. How do you order someone to provide you with evidence? Zambia police is a laughing stock.
How can a minster buy a helicopter? How much do you get paid as a minster? He bought a helicopter because he thought Lungu was going to rule forever. These guys had no shame. Now they want to twist the narrative as a witch hunt. This gimmick is not going to work. Every action has consequences . You are not going to escape it is accountability this time. If you are not going to account, who is going to paid down the $30bn debt? Zambians are not going to be subjected to austerity when we know the people who have stolen public funds.
Malanji in for theft ,Kampyongo is in for violence and next it’ll be Lungu. We told ya PF was a rotten party now you see?
It looks like Malanji will now f*ckin walk free. New Dawn Government, just arrest & lockup the London & New York based Investment Banker, the blogger (aka) #INDEPENDENT OBSERVER who has now bought 7 houses in Rhodes Park and has hired an architect and developer to demolish and build 70 Apartments in Lusaka. This f**ckin d*ckhead just got lucky making $50m from bitcoin. Don’t suck up and hand him favours, such as giving him tax incentives. I have noted some of you are now full of praise of him at Lusakatimes and kissing his **ss and talking this sh*t that he inspires and motivates you. F*ck You All. Especially bloggers and *ssholes such as #MUTAFELA MULIFE, #GEOFFREY KHUMBULA, #YOGA, #GENERAL KANENE, #WOW……, #MOONGA, #MIYANDA
Kwacha Constituency please don’t protest, allow plunders to be prosecuted for the crimes they committed, if any. Corruption, in whatever form, destroys economies. My appeal to you is to call upon our president HH to also extend this fight to all those who stole and acted dishonestly during MMD regime by stealing bicycles and profited enormously during the privatization process of the 1990s and became super rich. Some of these characters are serving in this UPND government.
So, my brothers and sisters in Kwacha, Kitwe, please please don’t protest we need peace. Just insist from HH that this fight in all inclusive since his IG told us that “Umulandu Taubola”
@Zambia Today
You need help. Try Chainama Hospital for a start……….
You have an extremely poor-me mentality. If this was you that had taken advantage of the bitcoin phenomenon which has made millions of people all over the world become instant multi-millionaires and made such money, you would not be complaining. If the guy is investing into property in Zambia, good luck to him and its his money……….
Protest? You will just be detained with him, if you want to perpetuate in discipline, have you now seen where the money you were chewing from him was coming from, it was never clean money
Imagine, they even nicknamed him bonanza, because of very questionable money which was being thrown all over
How do you go and buy a helicopter when many Zambians are impoverished.
The people of Kwacha constituency are retards, the man buys them a hearse and a 60 seater bus for their constituency for their funerals and he becomes a saint and a hero, whilst on the other hand the same man is involved in financial scams involving millions of Kwachas and dollars he cannot account for ,thus taking the country backwards into deep poverty and all they can think about are the hearse and the bus plus a few handouts. So should the entire country suffer just because people of kwacha constituency are unhappy with the arrest of their hero? utter rubbish.
This not the time to say “threatened to Protest”, That was PF time, this time every one is at liberty for whatever demonstrations you want to as long as you inform the Police. Time for threats are gone with PF regime. Time for teargassing is gone fyamu fedulo fyaya na PF leadership and that is why it will never bounce back
From the onset DEC seems not to know what they’re doing as such they might lose a good case. Are they not embarrassed by the decision of the Magistrate? Unless somebody is disciplined they will continue to embarrass us.
Walking and protesting for a thief from Malawi. Muli fipuba? Bushe imwe mwebantu mulatontonkanya? This man stole from your children and from your hospitals and your schools. Why do we really think so lowly? You guys behave like trees that an axe lies to just because it has wood on it.
@#18, stop insulting people with your half baked information. We have security wings who should give us facts on crimes committed by individuals, insult them instead because the man is walking free because your law and order people have failed to gather any evidence. Until proven guilty we shall assume Milanji is innocent.
it appears we are back in the days of the late president mwanawasa, of arresting this one and that one and cases suddenly disappears, just for egoism
very fun period indeed,
what is the value of these arrests so owning or hiring a helicopter by a zambian is still mystery .
time wastage for imaginery cases
people are tired we had too much of this drama during mwanawasa, lets focus on reducing the cost of living that is where zambians are focusing .
our towns are dirty and filthy and yet we have anew govt still struggling to find feet ,
mphangela