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The State has asked the High Court to allow it to proceed with the prosecution of an appeal in the controversial Honey Bee Pharmacy drug supply scandal.
The application follows a motion by Honey Bee Pharmacy Limited and its directors, Zakir Hussein Motala, Imran Lunat and Abdurrahim Motala, seeking dismissal of the State’s appeal for want of prosecution and alleged lack of jurisdiction.
The respondents argued that the State failed to file the appeal within 14 days after the court granted leave to appeal out of time on September 29, 2025. They also challenged the propriety of the appeal process.
But in an affidavit filed this month before the Economic and Financial Crimes Division of the High Court, Acting State Advocate at the National Prosecutions Authority, Victor Choongo maintained that the State had complied with the law and remained committed to prosecuting the matter.
“That contrary to the respondents’ allegations, the appellant filed an application for leave to appeal out of time on February 6, 2025 in the subordinate court at Lusaka Criminal Registry,” Choongo stated.
He explained that after the court granted leave to appeal out of time on September 29, 2025, the respondents filed an application for leave to appeal against that ruling in the Court of Appeal on October 15, 2025.
Choongo argued that the appeal could not progress while the respondents’ application was pending before the appellate court, which only delivered its ruling on March 31, 2026.
“The lack of progression of this matter was occasioned by the respondents’ own application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal,” he said.
He told the court that the State was not served with notices for a scheduled status conference on April 22, 2026 or the inter partes hearing set for May 6, 2026, only learning of the proceedings upon being served with a notice of hearing and the motion to dismiss the appeal.
Choongo submitted that the notice of appeal dated October 7, 2025 was duly filed within the required 14 days and constituted “a valid and necessary step in the prosecution of the appeal.”
He urged the court to dismiss the respondents’ application with costs and allow the State to proceed with the appeal “in the interest of justice.”
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