BINGA Rural District Council chief executive officer, Joshua Muzamba, and two senior council officials have been arrested on charges of criminal abuse of office and fraud.
Muzamba (53), who resides at number 176 Lakeview in Binga, allegedly promoted an employee without following procedure in terms of the Urban Councils Act which requires that there must be a council resolution before a job is advertised.
The RDC boss allegedly promoted Lovemore Siamunya who was a revenue officer in 2014 to a higher position without seeking the consent of councillors.
Muzamba was not asked to plead to criminal abuse of office when he appeared before Binga magistrate, Mr Talent Phiri, on Monday.
He was remanded out of custody to next week Monday on $200 bail and ordered to surrender his travel documents, report once on Fridays at Binga Police Station and not interfere with witnesses.
Prosecuting, Mr Bruce Maphosa said Muzamba favoured Siamunya.
“On November 3, 2014, Muzamba promoted Siamunya without advertising or carrying out interviews while there was also no council resolution to employ a public officer,” he said.
Siamunya also appeared before the same court to answer to a charge of fraud for allegedly forging a receipt of $600 paid by a client for lease renewal.
The prosecutor said on January 12 last year, Siamunya received $600 from Mr Edmore Siabechu to renew a shop lease for Mr Peter Mudenda. Instead of receipting the money, Siamunya allegedly issued the customer with an old counterfeit receipt which was used in 2015.
It was not mentioned how the offence came to light. Siamunya was remanded to today when he is expected to bring a lawyer. He was released on $100 bail and ordered to report at Binga police station daily.
The third official, Naison Siamuloba (46), who was employed as a revenue officer, appeared in court last Friday when he was jailed for an effective three months on a count of fraud and fined $100 on the second one.
Siamuloba received $600 from Mrs Mary Magdalene Esterhuizen of Mlibizi Resort for renewal of a lease.
Siamuloba under receipted the money and pocketed $500, after giving the client a fake receipt with the correct figure while council master copy had $100. On the second count, Siamuloba received $270 from the same client and converted $100 to his own use.
He had repaid all the money when he appeared in court. The magistrate sentenced Siamuloba to six months in jail for the first count and fined him $100 or alternatively two months in jail for the second count.
He will serve an effective three months after half of the sentence was suspended on condition of good behaviour within five years. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment