CHOMBA MUSIKA, Lusaka

THE case in which former Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has sued Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) demanding US$50 million damages for defamation and malicious prosecution should not be entertained. ACC has submitted in the Lusaka High Court that Dr Chilufya is not entitled to the reliefs he is seeking in the lawsuit. “The defendant denies each and every allegation contained in the plaintiff’s statement of claim as if the same were specifically set out herein and traversed,” ACC submits.
Dr Chilufya has sued ACC and its former acting director general Rosemary Khuzwayo demanding US$50 million special damages for the pain, anxiety and mental anguish he allegedly suffered. He is also seeking damages for malicious prosecution, defamation and intimidation. This lawsuit follows the Mansa Central legislator’s arrest and eventual acquittal when he was minister of Health in 2020. ACC had charged Dr Chilufya with, among other cases, being in possession of property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime. But the politician later sued ACC complaining that despite being innocent, he was exposed to criminal proceedings and was at risk of being imprisoned if he did not defend himself. Dr Chilufya also complained that ACC issued widely publicised press statements in which it uttered defamatory sentiments linking him to corruption. But in defence to the lawsuit, ACC says it will show at trial that through its press releases dated February 21, 2020 and June 24, 2020 published in the media, contents of the statements never imputed criminality and corruption on the part of Dr Chilufya. “The defendant will show at trial that the plaintiff’s arrest was not malicious but was based on a report received by ACC bordering on allegations of the plaintiff being in possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime,” ACC has stated. It has further submitted that the reported CLICK TO READ MORE