COP TESTIFIES IN KATUBA MP’S VEHICLE CASE

By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA A police officer has told the Lusaka High Court that a complaint was lodged by Swift Cargo and Services Limited alleging that UPND Katuba Parliamentarian Bampi Kapalasa had fraudulently obtained its vehicle. In this matter, Mr Kapalasa’s wife, Fanny Madzi, has commenced judicial review proceedings citing the Attorney General as the defendant, demanding that the police should release her motor vehicle which was gifted to her husband by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji. Ms Madzi claimed that she had been using the motor vehicle peacefully as an absolute owner for her personal and business activities until the relationship between her husband and Mr  Malanji went sour because he (Kapalasa) refused to support the infamous Constitutional (Amendment) Bill no.10 of 2019. In an affidavit in opposition to the application for Judicial Review, Mr Simunza Uyoya, the police officer dealing with the issue of the vehicle stated that on November 30, last year, Mr Goodward Mulubwa reported on behalf of Swift Cargo Services that the company vehicle, Isuzu D-Max, reg.no BAP 6744  had been fraudulently obtained by Mr Kapalasa after he promised to buy it. “That the complaint was astonished that the motor vehicle was not returned but that there was an agreement in which honourable Bampi Kapalasa purported to have bought the vehicle from Swift Cargo Services limited at $64,000 to be paid in two instalments in July and August,” Mr Uyoya said. He stated that neither Mr Kapalasa nor his wife had proof of payment for the car but there was a white book in Ms Madzi’s names. Mr Uyoya claimed that the MP and his wife failed to explain how ownership of the vehicle changed from Swift Cargo Services to Ms Madzi. He stated that investigation at Road Transport and Safety Agency revealed that the vehicle was registered in Swift Cargo Services on June 16, 2020 as the vehicle is among four which were purchased by the the firm from Auction Auto. He said that the ownership of the vehicle was changed from Swift cargo Services to Ms Madzi on June 29, last year without authority of the previous owner. “The  police seized the vehicle in question from the applicant pending further investigations as there is no doubt that the vehicle in question belonged to Swift Cargo Services limited, and the issue is how the ownership changed from Swift cargo Service limited to the applicant,” Mr Uyoyo stated. He said that the case is still under investigations to establish how the ownership changed into Ms Madzi’s name.