Two Lusaka lawyers arrested for trying to swindle govt K2.4 billion
The Drug Enforcement Commission has arrested two Lawyers for attempting to swindle government of over 2.4 billion kwacha.
DEC spokesperson John Nyawali named the legal brains as Nicholas Okware, a private lawyer of Okware Associates and Company and Steven Simwanza, an Assistant Senior State Advocate in the office of the Attorney General.
He said the other person arrested in connection with the transaction is Simatama Maliwa, the owner of Be-link debt collectors.
The trio are said to have attempted to obtain the money from the Ministry of Tourism Environment and Natural Resources by using an inflated bill of claims.
Simwanza a government lawyer is said to have conspired with Okware, a private lawyer for former employees of the Ministry of Tourism Environment and Natural Resources and Maliwa a debt collector and other unknown people in the Ministry to inflate the bill of legal claims to over 2.4 billion kwacha.
The case of ex-workers of the ministry of tourism is currently before the High Court where Delson Chibaya and other former employees of the Ministry sued the state for under payment of their terminal benefits amounting to 182 million kwacha.
The two lawyers are currently detained and will appear in court soon, said Nyawali.
A team of investigators from the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission has since been instituted to ensure that the matter is thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.
Other preliminary investigations have shown that government has possibly lost billions of kwacha through fake claims in different ministries.
Nyawali disclosed that the Commission in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies will soon revisit and closely scrutinize some of the financial claims that have been settled in the past to ensure that any money that was fraudulently paid is returned to government and its perpetrators prosecuted.
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And this Okware chap is from Uganda.Only on Zambia do u find such foolish things happening
90% Zambians with money deals in similar circumstances like the one mentioned above
It is my honest opinion that they has been a lot of non poltical corruption exposed during this govt. It is an indication that the govt only dealt with exposing political opponents while big corruption crimes were going on among ordinary people.It is also an indication that corruption should be fought holistically. The post should also assist in digging deeper by attempting to expose other corruption intead of confining themselves to Chilubas corruption. It should also help us sheld more light on the corruption alledgations Nchito insteand of defending everytime without providing us with proper information.
these criminals must be jailed. stupid idiot
the drug enforcement commission is doing a good job keep up with the spirit criminals dont deserve mercy
Not all lawyers are crooked, but this case exemplifies the shortcuts that are availabel to well placed people to make a quick buck off government.Many ‘rich’ peoiple in Z have their money thought such claims from govt. its called shortcircuit
crooks and thieves are every where. but proper mechanisms put into place will save monies for a given nation, not only mechanisms but also polices and regulations and laws, will help keep national coffers safe,, but in zambia the opposite is true .in fact more evil things do happen in govt institutions and they are un checked,,.
Wapya munzi ! These zambian lawyers are all crooks. They just want o drive unlawfully obtained Jeeps kanshi they inflated figures ! Foolish ! lock em up so that the face the anal ‘music’ in Chimbokaila
Who is this okweri from. Sounds western part of Africa. carefull
criminals,thugs
While at it….Can we try to counter check this funeral expense of K19.5 billion? It appears fictitious to me. Really, can we spend K19.5 billion on a funeral? Is it possible to have a tabulated account for each expense? Since the Auditor General is related to the late President perhaps we can ask a private audit firm to carry out a forensic audit.
Good work, please keep inforicing the law, its too much of the overnight millionaires. We are tired of this nonsense!