CHARLES MUSONDA writes
A POLICE forensic expert has testified that there were contrasts between signatures on suspected forged land documents and the specimen samples for signatories purported to have signed them.
The witness said this yesterday in a case in which three Ministry of Lands officers are facing three counts of unauthorized access to data, two counts of forgery, and one count of uttering a false document.
McBride Kambeu, an information system programmer, and two registry clerks Derrick Chali and Caroline Mvula have been jointly charged for generating a certificate of title and land lease for a property in Chongwe without authority.
It is alleged that on March 24, 2016 Kambeu intentionally and without authority or permission accessed data in the Ministry of Lands computer system by creating a demand notice while in the third count Chali is accused of generating a certificate of title number 20753.
In the fourth count, the trio is accused of jointly forging the title on April 27, 2016 by purporting to show that it was genuinely issued and signed by authorised signatories when in fact not while in the fifth count the allegation is that the three forged a direct lease by purporting to show that it was genuinely issued and signed by authorised signatories.
In the sixth count, Mvula is charged alone for uttering the alleged false lease to Chisanga Chiwaula, a senior deeds and lands officer at the Ministry of Lands.
Testifying in the case before Magistrate Felix Kaoma yesterday, David Zulu, the forensic expert, said on August 9, 2017 he received a request from the Ministry of Lands to examine signatures for Ian Kayero, Emmanuel Tembo, Wilfred Muma, Mwila Chate and Marios Mufwaya, the senior officers who were purported to have signed the documents.
“I observed dissimilarities between a signature on the letter of offer purported to have been signed by the said Ian Kayero and the specimen signature samples of Ian Kayero. This signature was executed by way of simulation.
“I also observed strong dissimilarities between the signature and the name stamp impression on the certificate of title and known specimen signature samples of Emmanuel Tembo,” Mr. Zulu said.
