- Former Zambian President, Frederick Chiluba, and six of his associates, today were put on trial in a Lusaka court, where they will have to answer to accusations of having stolen US$ 40 million from the Zambian treasury. The ex-President and his lawyers deny all charges.
Mr Chiluba and six associates are facing 169 charges of theft, corruption and abuse of power. The former leader of Zambia alone is accused of having stolen or embezzled US$ 29 million. Most of these funds had been diverted to private accounts in foreign banks.
The lawyers team however claims that no embezzlement has happened with Mr Chiluba's knowledge. Instead, they claim, the funds found on his private London bank account were used to pay for secret "overseas intelligence service operations".
A second trial against Mr Chiluba is to start on 16 December, where he is charged with the theft of US$ 4 million. The former Zambian President has called these two trials against him a 'political witch-hunt', performed by his successor government.
The corruption investigations against the ex-President started over one year ago. Since that, Mr Chiluba has fought an unsuccessful battle to maintain his legal immunity. The Zambian prosecution meanwhile has built a large case against the ex-President.
Mr Chiluba has quietly been accused of corrupt practices by Zambian for a long time. The Zambian economy indeed went disappointingly bad after President Chiluba took over power from the country's first President, Kenneth Kaunda - who had stuck to power for 27 years - in 1991.
Mr Chiluba had campaigned promising anti-corruption measures and revitalising the economy. He immediately made Zambia the new favourite of foreign development agencies, investing large sum in Zambia's development.
Within a few years, however, it became clear that the former trade union leader was not delivering on his promises. The economy showed no signs of recovery, development programmed were without effect and President Chiluba had a difficult hand with democratic ground rules, which the press soon experienced.
The massive privatisation of state companies during his ten-year rule didn't produce increased economic activity. Several critics have claimed that Mr Chiluba and his closest associates enriched themselves during this privatisation.
During 2001, President Chiluba tried to change the constitution to assure himself a third go for the presidency. Met with massive resistance from civil society, he was forced to give this up. His handpicked successor, Levy Mwanawasa, won the controversial election.
It was therefore a great surprise to Mr Chiluba and to Zambians at large that the Mwanawasa government would allow a corruption case against the ex-President. President Mwanawasa however has launched a nationwide aggressive anti-corruption campaign that would have lacked credibility if Mr Chiluba had not been targeted.
Latest reports from Lusaka say that the Chiluba trial, after being opened today, was adjourned until tomorrow.
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