Court throws out bail application by Ex-ZamPost Master-General, Chanda, two others

Former ZamPost Master-General, Macpherson Chanda, and two others, serving two years sentence for theft by public servant will remain in incarceration pending determination of their appeal as the Economic and Financial Crimes Court has refused to grant them bail.

Chanda was jailed together with two former Zampost directors, Best Mwaiche and Isaac Mwaichi in July, 2022, after the Ndola Magistrate Court found them guilty of diverting Social Cash Transfer funds into a fixed deposit account for purposes of accruing interest without consent from the Ministry of Community Development.

The three appealed against the sentence to the High Court, but the Economic and Financial Crimes Court, declined to reverse the decision of the lower Court except for the K335 million judgement debt which was ordered to be assessed by the Deputy Registrar and the amount found due paid to the treasury by Zampost.

Chanda and his co-convicts appealed to the Court of Appeal contesting the Economic and Financial Crimes’ decision to uphold the sentence when there was no evidence of them having stolen the Social Cash Transfer funds or the interest which was accrued.

The three applied for bail pending determination of the appeal, an application heard by the same panel of Judges who upheld his sentence.

According to the ruling, the application lacked merit, thus, the refusal by the court to grant the three bail.

The court observed that the applicants had failed to show to court the exceptional circumstances to grant them bail.

“Having examined all the grounds tendered in the applicants notice of intention to Appeal in the affidavit in support of summons for bail pending appeal,we find that the prospects of the applicants’ succeeding are dim,” said the court.

The panel had Judges Pixie Yangailo, Vincent Siloka and Ann Malata-Ononuju.

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