NDOLA Chief Resident Magistrate Kelvin Limbani has put former Minister of Defence George Mpombo on his defence after finding him with a case to answer.
This is in a case in which Mpombo is charged with an offence of a dishonoured cheque.
In his ruling in the Ndola Magistrates Court yesterday, Mr Limbani said he had considered the evidence on record and found that the State had established a prima facie case against Mpombo in accordance with chapter 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which requires him to be put on his defence.
Mr Limbani said six witnesses testified in the case and that the State filed written submissions while the defence made oral ones.
Particulars of the offence are that Mpombo, on December 18, 2009 with intent to defraud, issued a cheque number 000014 worth K10 million to Colwyn Limited of Ndola on an insufficiently funded account, which rendered the cheque dishonoured.
[pullquote]“When I reached his place, I told him that the hydraulic system on both my tractors had packed up and I needed K10 million to sort out the hydraulic system because I was unable to spray the crop…..it was very, very urgent, absolutely urgent,” Mpombo said.[/pullquote]
During his examination-in-chief led by his lawyer Bonaventure Mutale, Mpombo said on December 10, 2009, he went to Mr Terence Findlay’s office after the latter invited him through a Mr Watson Katema Mutale.
He said Mr Findlay was excited to see him and asked him why he had resigned from his ministerial portfolio.
“When I reached his place, I told him that the hydraulic system on both my tractors had packed up and I needed K10 million to sort out the hydraulic system because I was unable to spray the crop…..it was very, very urgent, absolutely urgent,” Mpombo said.
He testified that Mr Findlay was sympathetic with him and agreed to lend him K10 million in exchange with a postdated cheque.
“I was given K10 million cash, we agreed that I will give him a post-dated cheque for K10 million. I issued the cheque and it was drawn on my account,” Mpombo said.
He testified that he issued a postdated cheque to Mr Findlay because his account had insufficient money at the time.
“I had to sort out the problem of selling animals at the farm and Mr Findlay was aware that my account had insufficient funds.
Notwithstanding this, he accepted the cheque,” Mpombo said.
He said he issued a postdated cheque to Mr Findlay, which was to be deposited on December 18, 2009, but that on December 17, 2009, he phoned Mr Findlay and told him not to proceed to deposit the cheque because he was mobilising funds.
Mpombo told the court that by December 17, 2009, he had mobilised K10 million and agreed with Mr Findlay that he could make the payment another day because the matter was not urgent.
“Mr Findlay told me that he was not pushing me and that I could make the payment another day. It is a blatant lie that he told me to deposit the money in Lusaka,” Mpombo said.
He denied allegations that he dishonestly issued the K10 million cheque to Mr Findlay with intent to defraud him.
During cross examination by prosecutor Lawrence Mudenda, Mpombo said he did not make arrangements with his bank to pay the K10 million to Mr Findlay in case the cheque was deposited.
He admitted that on December 18, 2009, he had K46,000 as available balance in his bank account and that the money could not cover the K10 million he owed Mr Findlay.
“Mr Findlay is my bapongoshi (son-in-law), he assured me that he would not deposit the cheque on December 18, 2009,” Mpombo said.
Mr Limbani set July 16, 2010 as the date on which he will deliver judgment. He ordered the State to make its written submissions on June 10, 2010 while the defence will make theirs on June 25, 2010.
[Zambia Daily Mail ]
