Source: Mwebantu
THE Lusaka Magistrate’s Court has dismissed an application questioning whether the court still has jurisdiction to hear the criminal case against former Kabushi lawmaker Bowman Lusambo. Judge Fydes Hamaundu ruled that he has not lost his right to handle the case.The court also said that there will be no harm to the accused if the trial is delayed for 45 days from the time of delay.
The judge’s ruling: Accordingly, the motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction is denied. In his application, Lusambo, through his lawyer Likandu Kalaluka, challenged the jurisdiction of the Economic and Financial Crimes Court (EFCC) to handle his criminal case, saying it had run out of time five months to hear the case. Mr. Kalaluka said that the Financial crimes court could not hear the case because the time limit of five months to decide the case under the Act had expired.
The 47-year-old politician and his wife are accused of 10 counts of possession of property suspected to be the proceeds of crime, conspiracy to commit tax fraud.In July this year, Lusaka Magistrate Fides Hamaundu found the accused with a case to answer and sent them to his defence.But when the case came up for the defense on Wednesday, Kalaluka, citing Rule 3(1) but not the EFCC Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), said that the court loses jurisdiction to hear the case which was granted.
The lawyer said the rules under the EFCC state that the court must hear and decide the petition within five months from the date of hearing.But the prosecutor Daniel Ngwira, the prosecutor of the Anti Corruption Prevention, has not lost the power of the court, adding that the law allowed more time to manage cases.
The judge dismissed the case and ordered Lusambo and his wife Nancy to open their case. Lusambo, a former minister for the Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces, said during his defense that he received K2.5 million as a member of parliament, from 2016 to 2021.
