Lutepo slapped with 11yrs IHL

• Those he implicated to be investigated

Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Reyneck Matemba said the State is satisfied with the ruling that Judge Redson Kapindu has meted out on businessperson and main cashgate convict Oswald Lutepo.

Lutepo has been slapped with 11 years imprisonment with hard labour for being found guilty on his own plea to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the government.

On money laundering charge, Lutepo has been given eight years while on conspiracy defraud government he has been given three years. The sentences will run consecutively and have been back dated to June 11 2015 when he was convicted.

Matemba however, said there is still a long way to go in the cashgate cases as all those that have been implicated by Lutepo and other cashgate suspects will be investigated.

“We are satisfied but this cause for no celebrations. We still have a long way to go. In his statement Mr. Lutepo has mentioned many people that are implicated in the cashgate and we will investigate them,” Matemba said.

Matemba said as the State, they wish Lutepo was given a stiffer punishment but the laws set ten years as a maximum and there is nothing they can do about it.

He added that even if Lutepo was given 20 years, it could not reverse the damage that cashgate has caused to the country’s economy and people’s life.

As he read out the judgment, judge Kapindu also touched on the issue of “highly placed politicians who were masterminded and were main beneficiaries of cashgate money” as one of the categories of people involved in cashgate. But, he could not mention them by name because they were before the court.

According to Kapindu, the other category is what he called “collaborators” who are individuals and businessmen who were recruited and used as conduits for cashgate.

“These are people who reap where they did not sow,” Kapindu said.

On numerous occasions, Lutepo has implicated former president Joyce Banda (JB) whom he said used him as a conduit.

This was same position he maintained today when he addressed the press before the court session where he again said that JB used him.

“How could I get hold of government account on my own? I was only used as a conduit,” Lutepo said.

Many people who gathered at the High Court in Zomba to witness the sentencing seemed satisfied with the number of years that Lutepo has been given.

So far there have been ten convictions, Lutepo is the eighth to be sentenced, while Caroline Savala and Leonard Kalonga await sentencing. Of those already sentenced, Lutepo has received the longest jail term.

Lutepo was whisked away to Mikuyu Prison about 10Kms from the city of Zomba where he will serve.