The Lusaka Magistrates Court has rejected a request for site inspections at Zambian Air Force facilities in Lusaka, Ndola, and Livingstone amid an ongoing USD573.9 million corruption trial involving former permanent defence secretary Stardy Mwale. The case centers on the 2017 acquisition of a Gulfstream Aerospace G650 presidential jet (registration G650 AF001, msn 6335).
Chief Magistrate Davies Chibwili ruled on November 22 that Charles Lungu, a former director of procurement at the Ministry of Defence, lacked the expertise to identify materials related to the jet at these locations. Lungu, testifying in court, acknowledged signing invoices for the jet’s procurement despite being uninformed about the contract’s details. He revealed that the procurement process had commenced in 2015, prior to Mwale’s appointment, and involved a single-source acquisition method.
Charges Against Mwale
Mwale, arrested in December 2022 by Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), faces three corruption-related charges. These include:
- Improper Procurement Procedures: Allegedly approving a USD400 million tender in 2017 for the modernization of the Zambian Defence Forces in favor of Israeli contractor Elbit Systems Limited without adhering to required processes.
- Unlawful Contract Amendments: Accused of altering a USD123.9 million contract in 2019 to favor Savenda Systems Limited, a Zambian representative for Elbit.
- Fraudulent Payments: Allegedly facilitating a USD50 million payment to Elbit for goods and services that were never delivered.
Several other officials, including former defence secretary Michael Obister Mbewe and Ministry of Defence officials Frank Hardy Sinyangwe and Esabel Willima Chinji, have also been implicated.