Sun directors abduction case next week
By Mast Reporter
THE case in which Sun Pharmaceuticals directors have sued the Attorney General and five others for abduction is set to start in the Lusaka High Court on September 15.
Vinod and Uddit Sadhu have sued Rashid Munali, a police officer identified as a Malambo, Mwila Chintu, Bernard Phiri and Mweemba.
The Sadhus allege they were abducted on September 29, 2022 by persons claiming to be police officers from the Department of Immigration Headquarters in Lusaka and held in an unknown place for 24 hours.
Among those who allegedly abducted the Sudhus was a driver of a known advisor to President Hakainde Hichilema.
In witness statements filed in the Lusaka High Court, Uddit and Vinod allege that they were held in an unknown place for many hours, at a place they later came to identify as Plot No. 39, Lufubu Road in Kalundu, Lusaka.
They complain that they were treated like armed criminals and threatened before being ordered to sign documents and directed to surrender their shareholding in Sun Pharmaceuticals, a company they have owned since 1991.
The pair later managed to phone for outside help, an act that alarmed the alleged abductors who forcibly took them to Chelstone Police Station.
“The six men who entered the room, in addition to one of the immigration officers already in the room, moved us downstairs to the ground floor and through to the VIP entry door. We were then bundled into two double-cab vans bearing private number plates, one bearing the plate number AID 1234, which were in the car park of the Immigration building. We crossed several CCTV cameras, including at the main staircase of the building, whilst being moved out of Kent House -Immigration Headquarters. My father and I were forced into one van, accompanied by the supposed ‘police unit leader’, officer Rashid Munali,” the witness statement states.
It says shockingly, the captives discovered that the vehicles they were being bundled into were from State House.
“We later discovered that these vehicles came from the State House, but without the authority of the State House. Two of the team members were employed as drivers at the State House, one of whom is the personal driver to the presidential advisor to the republican President,” the statement says.
“Our captors attempted to confuse our sense of direction by driving in circles, but my father was able to make a note of the area, having recognised a house where the late President Kaunda resided in Kalundu. My father and I also noted the house number when we arrived at what looked like a private lodge and a newly constructed duplex construction right next to the property. These landmarks helped us retrace our movements and locate the house they abducted us to, namely house No. 39, Lufubu Road, Kalundu, Lusaka,” the two have stated.
They say they were locked up in different rooms at a house in Kalundu for interrogation about Sun Pharmaceuticals.
“We were locked up in separate rooms. Rashid Munali, Malambo, Mwila Chintu and Bernard Phiri jointly interrogated me about Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited, its financials, bank accounts, particularly banking facilities, my father’s ownership, etc. They later took me to the room where my father was being held and jointly interrogated us on the same questions about the company accounts, the signatories’ account balances, and who we knew in Zambia. My father was then removed from the room, and I was interrogated alone. Afterwards, my father was brought back to the room and members of the team holding us declared, ‘you will never leave the building till you cooperate and do what we ask’. They had a document for us to sign under duress, which we declined to sign,” they state.
According to the witness statements, the driver of one of the presidential advisors threatened to shoot them dead if they did not comply with their demands before they were taken to Chelstone Police Station.
The raging feud between two families over Sun Pharmaceuticals has now found its way into a court of law, and the case is set to open on September 15.
