The trial of Development Bank of Zambia’s (DBZ) former Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Bwalya, continued in the Economic and Financial crimes court last Friday. Dr. Bwalya is accused of abuse of authority and misusing public resources amounting to K781, 195.78 for paying tuition fees for his children at various schools both locally and abroad.
However, the first witness, DBZ Head of Risk and Strategy, Ms. Chanda Kambobe, testified that Dr. Bwalya was entitled to education allowances for his children, just like any other employee of the bank. Ms. Kambobe, who was one of the seven DBZ employees charged with negligence in issuing the education allowances, was cleared of wrongdoing by the DBZ disciplinary committee on November 19th, 2022.
Another witness, Head of Treasury at DBZ, Mr. Emmanuel Simbeza, also confirmed that Dr. Bwalya was entitled to the education allowance, while Operations Principal Officer at DBZ and Chairman of the then disciplinary committee, George Lumpa, stated that all procedures were followed and Dr. Bwalya was entitled to the allowance. All seven staff members charged were cleared of any wrongdoing and the education allowances were fully recovered by DBZ on July 18th, 2022.
The trial will continue on March 17th, 2023, with the judgement still pending.
