I am more than confident that my money is still in the Zamtrop account and I will justify that I am entitled to a refund because that money was meant for the project (aborted construction of the Frederick Chiluba Institute of Democracy and Industrial Relations), which did not finish, Chiluba said.
He said this yesterday before Ndola High Court registrar Jones Chinyama who sat as chief resident magistrate in a case in which Chiluba is jointly charged with defunct Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu for alleged theft of US$488,000 public funds.
Chiluba said he raised money from private sources that included his friends from southern Africa, adding that the money was meant for his personal and party projects.
He could not disclose the sources on grounds that their lives would be at risk for supporting political parties financially.
Chiluba said upon receiving the money, he used to give it to Zanaco for transmission to his children in Europe but did not know how the bank treated the money at that time.
He later learnt that Zanaco used to keep his money in a suspense account whose ledger was within the Zamtrop and named picture account.
Chiluba said he made enough money from travel allowances and used it to pay for his children's school fees and whenever he had a shortfall, his friends helped him.
He said three forensic audits conducted on the Zamtrop account confirmed that it had a total balance of US$52 million of which US$43 million belonged to Government and the US$8.5 million balance to him.
He said even the Supreme Court judgment, in the Anderson Mazoka and others' presidential election petition against late President Mwanawasa, acknowledged that he used his money from private sources to campaign for the latter.
Chiluba said there was no way he could steal US$50,000 in 1998 because by then, he had received about US$1 million from his private financiers.
He said he was not aware of transactions concerning transfer of funds to the Zamtrop account, then to Meer Care and Desai, a United Kingdom-based law firm, and back to AFSL.
He said it was not possible for him to take US$2.5 billion, as alleged in certain sections of the media, because that was the total value of Zambia's gross domestic product then.
Chiluba denied knowing Aaron Chungu, saying he only came to know the latter after they were jointly charged.
He said he knew Kabwe when the then Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) director-general Xavier Chungu introduced him as a friend of the service.
Chiluba told the court that on many occasions, the late Dr Mwanawasa demanded that he returned 75 per cent of what he had stolen and seemed to be sure that the alleged theft happened.
Because of these statements, it became the order of the day for people including foreigners to call me thief. Many people started shying away from visiting me and I was made prisoner in my own house, he said.
Chiluba said his fellow presidents and prime ministers in the region isolated him on grounds that he was dangerous and had plundered national wealth.
They could not believe that their friend who was chairman of the Great Lakes region, a man they had trusted to represent them at one huge Europe-Africa summit on investment in Cairo can be such a careless and unworthy person.
They could not believe that the president they had given so much trust and confidence as their spokesperson in the UN Security Council could be such a letdown. I was isolated, he said.
Chiluba said Dr Mwanawasa only allowed him to travel for medical attention when his sickness became life-threatening.
He said some Task Force on Corruption officers in collusion with The Post newspapers allegedly started writing stories that he was feigning illness and started publicising private records about his condition to make it impossible for him to travel.
Chiluba said he would demonstrate that his conduct as President of Zambia and MMD was above board.
As President in office, I remained loyal and patriotic to my country. I have always sought in my life to work for the less privileged so that they can find value in the independence they struggled for, he said.
Chiluba said he was worried about what has happened to many people who have suffered because of their association with him and that their prosecution was planned to bury his legacy.
He said the ZSIS had been reduced to rubble and other countries in the region had no interest in dealing with the service because they feared to be embarrassed.
The matter was adjourned to February 9, 2009, for more witnesses to testify. – Zambia Daily Mail