Former president's son sentenced to eight months in jail for stealing Samsung mobile phone

FORMER Zambian president's son Frederick Chiluba Junior has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment with hard labour by a magistrates’ court in Lusaka for stealing a mobile phone.

Between 1991 and 2001, Frederick Chiluba governed Zambia, taking over from the long-serving Kenneth Kaunda who led the country to independence in 1964. His rule was dogged by corruption allegations, leading to his immunity from prosecution being lifted after he left office.

Yesterday, his son, Frederick Junior, was convicted of stealing a Samsung S7 edge phone last year, valued at $843. Police prosecutor Chris Mwale, attached to the Woodlands Police Station, told the court that on September 2, 2017, he received a complaint from one Brenda Chisha, that Frederick, stole her phone and traded it for hard drugs in Chibolya township.

A former Zambia Air Force (ZAF) officer, Mr Chiluba, 33, was eventually convicted and sentenced by Magistrate Nthandose Chabala. Delivering judgement the magistrate said she handed Mr Chiluba a custodial sentence as a deterrence to him and other would-be offenders, adding that she was satisfied that there was enough evidence connecting him to the theft of the phone and the prosecution had proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt.

President Chiluba, who died on June 18, 2011 was prosecuted for alleged embezzlement in 2002 but acquitted after a six-year trial. In 2007, he was convicted of fraud by a London court and ordered to repay $58m in embezzled funds but the ruling was never enforced in Zambia.