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The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Gilbert Phiri, has moved to overturn the acquittal of Patriotic Front (PF) vice president Given Lubinda in a corruption case, arguing that the trial court erred in law when it cleared him.
Lubinda was acquitted by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on April 18, 2024, on four counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
However, the DPP has filed a notice of appeal before the Economic and Financial Crimes Division of the High Court, seeking to set aside the acquittal and have the matter reconsidered.
In the appeal, the DPP raises five grounds, among them a claim that the trial court misinterpreted evidence regarding funds received in Lubinda’s dollar account.
The State also contends that the court wrongly accepted Lubinda’s explanation regarding the source of the funds and failed to recognize the suspicious nature of a US$50,000 payment made towards a Kingsland City property.
Prosecutors argued that Magistrate Stanford Ngobola erred in concluding that the evidence did not establish reasonable suspicion or meet the legal threshold required for conviction.
Lubinda had been accused of receiving large sums of money from foreign companies between 2018 and 2019—transactions the State alleged were linked to criminal proceeds.
These included US$50,000 from China Africa Cotton Limited and a combined US$180,000 from Qingdao Ruichang Cotton Industrial Company Limited.
The final charge involved a US$50,000 payment towards a property purchase, allegedly made using illicit funds.
Magistrate Ngobola acquitted Lubinda on all counts, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
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