Nyasulu’s indictment correct, court rules

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

THE Lusaka Magistrate has ruled that the indictment in the matter against former director of the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Authority (ZAMMSA), Victor Nyasulu and three others is right before court as it contains the necessary information to proceed with trial.

Nyasulu is charged with Nalishebo Siyandi, Nchimunya Habadu and Dr John Kachimba for abuse of authority of office when they allegedly wilfully failed to comply with the law and applicable procedure contrary to the laws of Zambia.

Nyasulu is accused of offences relating to the awarding of contracts for the procurement of medicines and authorising the receipt of medicines and medical supplies.

Magistrate Mungala said the charge sheets needs not contain all sections and particulars of offence but must contain anything reasonable as prescribed under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

This was after the defence applied for the indictment to be dismissed for failure to describe in particular the offences the accused has committed to be in court.

The defence alleged the charge sheet was incomplete as it did not include particular crimes committed making it unfair for the accused persons to appear before court without knowing the crimes committed.

But Justice Mungala explained that there was enough information contained in the charges and the offences alongside reasonable information of the nature of the crimes in line with CPC.

He said ordinarily, the objection to a charge sheet should have been made before the accused took plea, but in this case was during trial.

“All 7 charges before court have all 3 basic stages of the charge sheet. The statement of offence is a reflection that section 137(2) which says the statement of offence shall explain shortly and maintain reference to indictment of the written offence.

He explained that all offences briefly explained the offences, and that particulars too were with references to articles in reference, and that “the charge sheet clearly spells out the charges as outlaid, and so the application is hereby dismissed,” he said.

And Nyasulu and three others have pleaded not guilty of abuse of authority of office for allegedly failing to comply with the law and applicable procedure in the procurement of medicines and medical supplies.

Meanwhile, three of the co-accused in the same matter have asked the court to dismiss the case that the charge sheet before court did not provide for crimes alleged to have been committed.

The defence team through Peter Chuulu told the court that charges did not disclose any offence because the anatomy of an indictment was not complete before court.

They charged that particulars of the offence and brief fact must speak to each other and could not appear in isolation as was the case before court.

They explained that the accused could not abuse authority of office if they did not benefit directly from the alleged proceeds.

They argued that the indictment before court should show that the offence and proceeds were proved, but that the indictment had failed to meet standards demanded by the rules such is defective and must be dismissed.