CAUGHT NAPPING | #48HOUSES

UPND Chairman for Economics and Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane, yesterday failed to explain how his nephew, a civil servant Charles Loyana, earned enough money to build the infamous 48 (now 51) houses in Lusaka’s Chalala area.

Reacting to a caller during a Radio Phoenix ‘Let the People Talk’ radio program, Dr. Musokotwane said that he needed to consult his lawyers before he could comment on the 51 houses.

But the persistent caller kept probing and asked why Musokotwane’s nephew Charles Loyana invested so much effort in trying to destroy Ministry of Lands records, and why all along when the debate was raging in public, Mr Musokotwane did not come out in the open to tell Zambians how he and his nephew earned the money to build the houses.

“Dr. Musokotwane, I have one last question for you. The debate over those 51 houses has been in the public domain for some time now, maybe a year. Why did you remain quiet, why haven’t you ever come out in public to explain to Zambians how you and your nephew earned the monies to build those 51 houses? Zambians want to know why you went through the effort of tampering with Ministry of Lands records if there is no crime, why hide that those houses belonged to you and your nephew?” the caller asked.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has revealed that investigations which established allegations bordering on corrupt in the acquisition of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime against known suspects of the 51 houses, had been completed.

“The owners have been found and soon, arrests are to be effected once the Director of Public Prosecutions gives consent,” ACC Corporate Manager Timothy Moono said. “Once Consent is given, the Commission will proceed to arrest the suspects.”

The owner of the houses paid K1,060,000 cash in crisp banknotes from the Bank of Zambia for two sets of properties on which he built the controversial 51 houses.

Mr. Moono further disclosed that the alleged initial owner of the forfeited properties, Charles Loyana, a senior accountant in the Ministry of Finance, tried as much as he could to destroy evidence linking him and his uncle, Situmbeko Musokotwane, to the houses.

The receipts of the ownership were presented to ACC.

“However, when interrogated, Mr. Loyana denied owning the houses, it could be possible he was protecting someone else,” Mr Moono said.