A former Zambian Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Charity Katanga, has been sentenced to three years in prison after she was found guilty of illegal possession of property deemed as proceeds of crime worth over $2 million.
While delivering judgment on Monday, Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate, Davies Chibwili, said the once feared Katanga failed to give a satisfactory explanation as to the source of funds with which she acquired luxurious buses as the money was not from her accounts.
The prosecution had told the court that Katanga, together with others between January 1, 2017 and June, 6 2022 bought 10 Higer Buses valued over $2 million suspected to be proceeds of crime.
“If the money that was paid to Higher for the buses did not come from her earnings as demonstrated in her answers, then were did it come from?” Chibwili queried.
“Take for instance the payments for the first two buses in 2017, a total of K3, 933,000 was paid to Higher from July 2017 to December 2017 in four installments.
“Where did that money come from especially that it did not come from any of the accounts the accused was linked to,” Chibwili added.
The Magistrate also noted that Katanga had failed to discharge the evidential burden placed on her by section 71(2) of the Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act number 19 of 2010, and therefore, dismissed her defence as afterthought accordingly.
Following the sentence, Katanga, through her lawyer, Benjamin Mwelwa, pleaded for leniency, saying she had worked for the nation and protected lives and properties through out her duties, noting that the tag of “convict” was enough punishment for her senior standing in society.
However, Magistrate Chibwili reasoned that the former senior police officer had put a stain on the uniform and the police service as she was chasing criminals when she too was one.
“It is important to pass a sentence that will send a clear signal to those of us in positions of responsibility to be honest and act appropriately in our offices. Because after been caught the fall from grace is much harder than for an ordinary citizen,” the Magistrate said.