By Wells Chifunda
The Anti-Corruption Commission has been accused of being unprofessional in handling certain matters under investigation by ACC officials.
Lawyer Mwansa Chambaila of Messers’ Ituna Partner expressed shock that the ACC has opted to mislead the people of Zambia regarding his client’s case and that the commission has charged him with giving false information to the public officer regarding his client’s case, Aditya Arora when voluntarily gave the ACC the accurate information.
Mr Chambaila has narrated that the ACC had recorded a warning and caution letter on his client, Mr Arora and a few days later, Mr Arora received a funeral notice from his family in India that his father-in-law has died.
According to Mr Arora, the funeral notice was also published in the Indian news mainstream newspapers.
Mr Chambaila says his client informed him of the sad development and his intention to travel to India to attend the funeral of his father-in-law.
The Lawyer called the ACC investigator Mr Joseph Mbewe to inform him of the sad development and Mr Mbewe later informed his superiors.
He states that ACC asked for the exact scheduled date for Mr Arora’s purported travel and that Mr Chambaila voluntarily issued a copy of the air ticket which showed that Mr Arora was to travel in a few hours.
The ACC officers rushed to the airport and found Mr Arora waiting for his flight to take off. They arrested and ejected him off the plane and further accused him of wanting to flee the country.
Mr Chambaila states that the ACC called him and issued a warn and caution statement on him but later on released a press statement.
“The press release further falsely stated that his client intended to flee the country but was only arrested when alert officers incepted him. He says the correct position is that the officers only became aware of his client’s intention to travel outside the country after he had voluntarily availed them of the information. The commission is not therefore being Profesional in this regard and through their press, therefore, they have tarnished his name and his company’s image,” he said.
Mr Arora will be appearing in court on Monday 8th August 2022 for the alleged charge of corruption.
07.08.2022
S24
