FORMER Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda has denied selling 22 vehicles to the Patriotic Front (PF) party.
Chanda is jointly charged with former ZRA director administration Callistus Kaoma, facing 22 counts of willful failure to comply with procedure, told the court that the vehicles were sold exclusively to ZRA employees.
In his defence before Lusaka Principal Resident Magistrate, Silvia Munyinya, he explained that all vehicles are registered with the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and that there is a full trail of any vehicle.
“As I address his allegations against me I wanted the court to have background. He alleged unknown PF officials contacted me to buy vehicles for PF campaigns. He did not provide information of the PF official and he did not provide the details of the PF official where they meet me or contacted me.
“I submit to this court that such meeting never took place. There was no such a meeting anywhere. In any case, the arresting officer did not show this court any letter of sell of any vehicle from ZRA to PF,” he told the court.
Chanda also questioned the prosecution’s use of a draft asset disposal policy, which he claimed did not exist officially in ZRA.
He stated that the correct asset disposal policy, which was duly approved by the board in 2002, was not used by the prosecution.
Chanda further argued that he was not a member of the asset disposal committee and therefore could not be held responsible for any irregularities in the disposal of vehicles.
He explained that the asset disposal committee was responsible for receiving lists of assets from ZRA offices, confirming that the assets were obsolete, and valuing them.
Chanda stated that the committee was also responsible for preparing a board paper for approval to dispose of the assets.
He said that as Commissioner General, he was not responsible for advertising the vehicles for disposal, but rather the asset disposal committee was responsible for this task.
Chanda also denied allegations that some vehicles were not approved by the board, stating that the board secretary had confirmed that all vehicles were approved.
In fact, Chanda produced board resolutions and minutes of board meetings, which showed that the board had approved the disposal of the vehicles.
He argued that it was misplaced to blame him for any irregularities in the disposal of vehicles, and that the right people to explain would be the asset disposal committee or the Commissioner Modernisation.
