Chiluba loses again

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba on Wednesday lost an appeal to have his US $40 million corruption case heard in a high court. Chiluba told IRIN he doubted the capacity of a magistrate's court to give him a fair and speedy trial, noting the "constitutional issues" likely to emerge at his hearing. He also cited the fact that his bail was set at an "unrealistic" $300,000, on the assumption that he had that kind of money available. However, Judge Japhet Banda rejected Chiluba's application, and an appeal to the Supreme Court was also dismissed. Chiluba is to appear in a magistrate's court on 27 August. The government's interagency task force on corruption investigating Chiluba struck on Tuesday after months of silence, arresting the former president and indicting him on 96 counts of theft by a public servant. Chiluba, who ruled Zambia for a decade, faces a total of 155 counts, all in relation to an account held by the intelligence service in London, known as ZAMTROP. Chiluba's lawyers, John Sangwa and Robert Simeza, on Wednesday said their client was being persecuted. They argued that all the counts against Chiluba arose from withdrawals from the ZAMTROP account. "The entire case has no merit ... [Chiluba] cannot be charged for all the withdrawals, whether it was $1 or $1 million - these were normal operations of the intelligence unit," Simeza argued. Michael Sata, a former Chiluba ally and now an opposition leader, alleged that President Levy Mwanawasa was "behaving like the Roman king who, when put in a tight corner by his people, brought in gladiators to keep peoples' minds off his rule. He wants to preoccupy us with Chiluba, so we forget the mess he is making of the country." Mwanawasa is indeed facing a challenging period. An impeachment process has begun in parliament over the appointment of his vice-president, which critics charge was done unconstitutionally. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition by the opposition, claiming the presidential election was rigged. The International Monetary Fund has threatened to withhold $100 million in aid because of a projected $124 million budget overrun, and public service workers have launched a series of strikes, crippling the government. "That Mwanawasa has problems is putting it mildly," political analyst Fred Mutesa told IRIN. The only area in which Mwanawasa "shines" is his anti-corruption campaign, so it was only logical for him to try to capitalise on it by catching the biggest fish, he suggested. Mwanawasa has consistently argued that his anti-corruption drive is aimed at recovering $300 million in funds, plundered by the previous administration, which he wants to plough back into poverty alleviation programmes. Mwanawasa resigned from Chiluba's government in 1992, critical of the administration's record on corruption. In response to Chiluba's allegation that he was being victimised, a senior member of the task force told IRIN: "I have never come across a person in the dock who thinks he is being treated fairly. They are all being persecuted and, I guess, they are in a sense."