Zambia sacks lawyers in corruption probe

ZAMBIA was last night accused of going soft in its war on corruption.

The impoverished African nation effectively disbanded a taskforce set up to help secure the conviction of a former president accused of stealing millions of dollars of public money to buy property in Europe.

The country's most senior prosecutor has fired private lawyers who appealed against a court decision that acquitted former president Frederick Chiluba.

The lawyers were appointed in 2002 by Chiluba's successor Levy Manawasa to investigate corruption allegations against senior government officials.

But their appeal against a lower court's decision in August to acquit Chiluba, who was accused of stealing 338,000 of public funds during his tenure, set the private prosecutors on a collision course with the state. The state's chief prosecutor subsequently withdrew the appeal.

Zambian officials have denied the dismissals were linked to the lawyers' objection to Chiluba's acquittal.

Acting government spokesman Mike Mulongoti said the state had terminated their contracts because the chief prosecutor no longer needed their services.

"If the Director of Public Prosecutions feels he does not need any of these officials he informs them and that is what has happened," Mulongoti added.

Mulongoti said dismissing the prosecutors would not impede Zambia's efforts to fight corruption. But University of Zambia economics professor Oliver Saasa disagreed.

"The removal of the private prosecutors after the disbanding of the taskforce on corruption without any clear picture of the replacement shows that the war against corruption is getting more fragile," Saasa said

Despite the charges against him being dropped in Zambia, Chiluba has not been fully exonerated of corruption.

Zambia's supreme court in February rejected an appeal by Chiluba against the enforcement of a London ruling that found he had defrauded his country while in power.