FRA Clerk Jailed For Theft

THE Ndola Magistrate’s Court has sentenced a Food Reserve Agency (FRA) depot clerk to two years imprisonment with hard labour for fraudulent false accounting and theft of 560 bags of maize worth over K36,000.
Deputy Registrar of the Industrial Relations Court Collins Lundah, sitting as magistrate on Monday, convicted Davison Chirwa, 68, of Kasankwa village in Masaiti after he found him guilty of the two offences.
“I find that the prosecution has proved its cases beyond reasonable doubt and I find the accused guilty of both charges and I convict him accordingly,” Mr Lundah said.
In the first count, Chirwa was charged with fraudulent false accounting which is contrary to Section 36 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence were that Chirwa on November 23, 2010 in Ndola, being a clerk at FRA with intent to defraud, entered on the document called inter-depot transfer note number 027467 to show that 650 bags of maize were transported from Kashitu to Kapiri-Mposhi when infact not.
In the second count, Chirwa was charged with theft by servant, contrary to Section 272 and 277 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence were that Chirwa on November 23, 2010 in Ndola, being a person employed in the public service as clerk with FRA, stole 560 bags of maize worth K36, 400 which came into his possession by virtue of his employment.
Passing the sentence, Mr Lundah said the defence of spillage was irrelevant because the bags of maize could have not disappeared in thin air.
Mr Lundah also said the maize was not recovered and he sentenced Chirwa to two years in each count and the sentences will run concurrently.
“You have the right to appeal within 14 days if you are not happy with my judgement,” Mr Lundah said.
In mitigation, Chirwa pleaded for leniency because he is old and he has a big family to look after.
During trial, Masaiti district cooperative union manager Austin Mweemba told the court that on November 11, 2011, he received a phone call from the FRA office in Ndola that the inter-depot transfer note was forged.
Mr Mweemba said he travelled to Ndola to verify the reports of the alleged forgery.
“I called the accused and queried him but he denied saying he had made a mistake instead of writing scale he wrote the bags of maize,” Mr Mweemba said.
He said Chirwa failed to lead him to the recovery of the maize and he decided to report the matter to the police.
In defence, Chirwa denied stealing the maize and he told the court he had simply made a mistake.
He told the court that the maize went missing because there was a heavy spillage at the depot which led to the missing bags.

Posted by Editor on October 9, 2013. Filed under CRIME. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry