Former public servants, Yamba, Chanda grated bail after bagging jail terms for alleged corruption

Three high-profile former government officials — former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba, former Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda, and former ZRA Director of Administration Callistius Kaoma — have all regained temporary freedom after the courts granted them bail pending appeal in separate corruption-related convictions.

In the first matter, the High Court on Friday granted Yamba K500,000 bail in his own recognizance pending the determination of his appeal against a three-year custodial sentence.

The ruling — measured, cautious, yet unmistakably assertive — signalled that Yamba’s challenge to his conviction raises issues too significant for the appellate bench to ignore.

Yamba was convicted by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on two counts of willful failure to comply with the law in the controversial purchase of a chancery property in Turkey involving K108 million.

He has insisted that his appeal carries real prospects of success, a position the State has rejected, arguing that the conviction rests on firm legal ground.

But in its detailed ruling, a three-judge panel comprising Pixie Yangailo, Ian Mambulobbolo, and Vincent Siloka took a more nuanced view.

After reviewing all 11 grounds of appeal and revisiting the lower court’s judgment delivered on September 3, 2025, the judges noted that this was no ordinary appeal.

“We are not able to make a conclusion prima facie that the prospects of success are dim,” the bench stated, citing Anuj Kumar Rath Krishnan v The People, a precedent underscoring the need to assess exceptional circumstances in bail pending appeal applications.

Those exceptional circumstances, the court held, flowed from what it described as a novel point of law with public importance: whether all statutory sections cited in each count constituted elements of the offence itself and therefore required proof beyond reasonable doubt.

This legal wrinkle, the judges said, elevated the matter beyond routine appellate review.

“In totality,” the ruling read, “the applicant has established exceptional circumstances warranting our discretion to grant bail pending appeal.”

Yamba was ordered released on K500,000 in his own recognizance, with two working sureties from the civil or public service, each bonded in the same amount.

In a separate case, former ZRA Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda also walked out of custody after securing K50,000 bail pending appeal, just months after being handed a six-year jail term. His co-convict Kaoma — who received a nine-year sentence — was granted bail on identical terms.

Chanda and Kaoma were convicted of abuse of authority and breaching procedure in the disposal of 22 government vehicles, some allegedly channelled to the Patriotic Front (PF) for election campaigns.

Chief Resident Magistrate Sylvia Munyinya-Okoh ruled that the pair had met the threshold for bail pending appeal, finding that their grounds of appeal raised substantial questions of both law and fact.

While declining to pre-judge the strength of the appeal, the magistrate held that the issues raised were “neither frivolous nor plainly unsustainable.”

Read More: Constitutional Court dismisses LAZ’s request to bar Attorney General from representing Assembly Speaker in Bill 7 case

The court further acknowledged that the appeal process — given the voluminous record — was unlikely to progress with speed. Although the State argued that the Economic and Financial Crimes Court operates under a five-month disposal timeline, the court held that delays in compiling the record or scheduling the appeal were realistic.

Such delays, she warned, could result in the two men serving a “substantial portion” of their sentences before their appeal is heard — an outcome deemed irreparable should they ultimately succeed.

The court noted their compliance with previous bond conditions, lack of flight-risk indicators, and fixed, traceable addresses.

It also held that the State failed to demonstrate any prejudice that would arise from their release, particularly since Section 332(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that time spent on bail does not count toward a sentence if the appeal fails.

Both Chanda and Kaoma are required to provide two working sureties, each bound at K50,000 and of fixed abode and gainful employment.

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.