ARCHBISHOP Alick Banda’s vehicle was amongst the dozens of PF campaign cars branded “ECL 2021” prior to the last general elections, the Economic and Financial Crimes Court has heard.
An assistant manager at the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) testified that the ZRA Toyota Hilux which was registered in Archbishop Banda’s name, a day after Mulopa Kaunda purportedly got it from the Tax institution on April 21, 2021 was among the fleet parked at DEC offices with the “ECL 2021” lebel.
Sizuan Luhanga who is based at RTSA Lumumba station said he couldn’t tell whether the vehicle was under auction sale or not.
In his testimony before principal resident magistrate Sylvia Munyinya, Luhanga said in August this year he was approached by an investigator in the Drug Enforcement Commission in a quest to establish under whose names ZRA vehicles were registered.
He said the investigator produced documents with 31 vehicles.
“He (DEC officer) wanted to find out in whose name the vehicles were registered in. On September 9, 2024, I was privileged to visit the DEC office where we found vehicles branded ECL to confirm the exact chassis numbers that were sitting in those vehicles,”Luhanga said.
“We went to retrieve the crucial documents of the vehicles to confirm in whose names the vehicles were registered in. We went deeper and checked the RTSA system to confirm if the vehicles changed name.”
He said investigations revealed that the vehicles had changed ownership from ZRA to the employees and third parties.
In the early stages of trial, the Economic and Financial Crimes Court had heard that some employees had the vehicles registered in their names without their consent, while some were forced to purchase the vehicles on behalf of senior officials within the ZRA.
Luhanga said some vehicles never changed ownership and are still registered under the ZRA.
He said among the vehicles are; a Mitsubishi pajero registration no. ABK 6092, a Toyota Hilux registration no.ABM 8166 owned by Vegeland Farms and was previously registered in Matthews Mwila Manda’s name on June 3, 2019 and on December 13, 2019 it was changed to Vegeland’s name.
Luhanga said among the vehicles that never changed ownership are ; Mitsubishi pajero registration no. ABR 9684, Mitsubishi Pajero ABR 9683, a Toyota Hilux ALC 9123.
He said other cars whose ownership changed was ; a Toyota Hilux registration no. ALF 4655, currently owned by the Heart of Mercy and was previously registered in Benjamin Choba’s name on May 26, 2021
Luhanga said ownership was transferred to the Heart of Mercy on the same date.
He said Toyota Hilux ALF 7734 belonging to the ZRA currently belongs to Archbishop Alick Banda it was registered in Mulopa Kaunda’s name on April 21,2021 and ownership changed in the cleric’s name on April 22, 2021.
“The change of ownership in a day or hours doesn’t matter as long as the people in the transactions have agreed. These are the true documents the vechicles were registered in and the current names sitting on the system are the ones I have just mentioned,” said Luhanga.
During cross examination by defense lawyer James Mataliro, the witness said he did not selectively produce documents for Archbishop Banda’s car, for change of ownership.
He said the investigator asked for history of the vehicle trail and other documents on which the car was registered.
Luhanga said the officer was sampling vehicles that had not been recovered and that he couldn’t confirm whether the cleric’s car was on sale as he was not informed.
Asked if owners of vehicles are free to transfer ownership at anytime, the witness responded in the affirmative.
When asked if Bishop Banda’s car is a subject of the indictment, the witness denied.
He further confirmed that RTSA has nothing to do with the internal processes at ZRA regarding the change of ownership for the vehicles.
In this case former ZRA Commissioner general Kingsley Chanda and director administration Calitus Kaoma are charged with 22 counts of willful failure to comply with procedure in the manner they disposed of 22 vehicles belonging to the Revenue Authority.
Trial continues on September 23.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba September 20, 2024.
