Regina Chiluba was found guilty of receiving $300 000 (R3.1 million) in
cash and goods that prosecutors said Frederick Chiluba stole from his
official residence while he was president from 1991 to 2001. Regina and
Frederick Chiluba married after he left office. She joins a stream of
Frederick Chiluba’s close political, military and business aides who
have either been sent to jail already or await sentencing for abuse of
office and theft. Chiluba himself is awaiting sentence later this month
on a case of theft involving $500 000. Chiluba was Zambia’s first
democratically elected president after 27 years of one-party rule. He
had promised to introduce political freedoms and overhaul Zambia’s
debt-ridden, centrally planned economy. Instead, he oversaw
privatisations ridden with corruption. He went on trial in 2003 for 169
counts of corruption, abuse of power and theft, but was declared unfit
to stand trial on the grounds of ill health. Zambia’s attorney-general
took the case to London, where the high court in 2007 found him guilty
of siphoning off $46 million in public funds. He denies any wrongdoing.
ZWNEWS