By Mast Reporter
LUSAKA principal magistrate Sylvia Munyinya has sentenced a Zambia Air Force (ZAF) officer and his wife to three years imprisonment with hard labour and simple imprisonment, respectively, after finding them guilty of seven counts of possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Albert Likezo Siyunda, a warrant officer Class 1, and his wife, Nandila Lyatamani, 44, were found guilty of acquiring multiple properties worth over K7.7 million between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, without providing a credible explanation for the source of money.
“The accused persons have failed to provide a reasonable explanation on how they acquired the properties in question,” Munyinya said.
“The evidence by the accused is not believable and convincing. They have failed to satisfy this court that the prosecution had no reasonable grounds for suspecting that the properties were proceeds of crime,” she said.
Siyunda and Lyatamani had claimed that they acquired the properties using income from their boat business in the Democratic Republic of Congo and personal savings.
However, the court found their explanations unconvincing because of inconsistencies in their testimonies and lack of supporting documentation.
“The accused persons claim that large sums of money were brought into Zambia from Congo, yet there are no border declarations, no banking records and no financial transaction evidence to support these claims,” Munyinya said.
During trial, the prosecution demonstrated that Siyunda had registered six of the properties in his wife’s name in an attempt to hide their true ownership.
The properties included two houses in New Kasama worth K3 million, a block of two flats in Mtendere-East valued at K1.2 million and other houses in Chalala, Lilayi and Ibex Hill.
In her judgement, Munyinya said merely asserting the existence of a business was insufficient to justify the acquisition of high-value assets.
“It is not enough to say you own a business. The burden is on the accused to provide credible, verifiable evidence that the business generated the funds used to acquire these properties. That burden has not been met,” she said.
She sentenced Siyunda to three years imprisonment with hard labour and slapped his wife, Lyatamani, with a three-year simple imprisonment term.
The couple is expected to appeal the verdict.
On August 29, 2022 the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested Siyunda for being in possession of the properties suspected to be proceeds of crime worth over K7, 720,000.
