Former First Lady Esther Lungu says the 15 properties in Lusaka’s State Lodge area that have been seized by the Drug Enforcement Commission -DEC -belong to her.
Mrs Lungu said she acquired the said properties in 2015.
She has since accused the DEC of having trespassed on the properties and that the Commission’s continued stay on the property constitutes a continued trespass.
This is contained in a letter of demand to the Commission’s Director General, Mary Chirwa, by Mrs. Lungus lawyer Makebi Zulu.
Mrs Lungu said the Commission should have been diligent enough to conduct an elementary search at the Ministry of Lands, to affirm that she owns the said properties.
The Former First Lady has since asked the DEC to leave the said properties adding that it is inappropriate for the commission to infringe on her rights to property solely based on their inability to conduct investigations professionally.
On Friday July 1, DEC repossessed the properties for allegedly being proceeds of crime where they revealed that they belong to a woman named Esther Nyawa Tembo.
But DEC Director General Mary Chirwa said that the Commission has NOT received any correspondence.
Ms Chirwa said the Commission has engaged the Department of National Registration to verify the NRC number for Esther Nyawa Tembo appearing on the State Lodge properties which were repossessed last week.
She said the Department has also been asked to identify the said Esther Nyawa Tembo.
Ms Chirwa said the commission has also engaged Zesco to help with identification of Ms. Tembo, whose name appears on the documents.
She said the Commission has decided to independently verify the identity of the accused because no one has presented themselves regarding the 15 flats in State Lodge suspected to have been constructed using proceeds of crime.
ZNBC
