CHISHIMBA Kambwili’s wife, Carol, has told the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court that when she decided to incorporate Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services with her son in 2001, a Mr James Nyasulo was sent to register it on their behalf at the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA).

Carol, who is the second defence witness, has, however, admitted that Mwamba was eight-years-old at the time the company was incorporated but added that she used to sign on his behalf before they got a power of attorney for Kambwili to sign on his behalf.

She further told court that she used her maiden name when registering Mwamona to avoid political interference that could have come with the name “Kambwili”.

This is a matter in which Kambwili is charged with three counts of forgery, uttering a false document and giving false information to a public officer in relation to the registration of Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services.

It is alleged that on October 29, 2013, Kambwili, with intent to defraud or deceive, forged a ‘no change return’ (Companies Form 71) purporting to show that it was genuinely signed by his son Mwamba when in fact not.

It is further alleged that on the same date, Kambwili knowingly and fraudulently uttered the same document to an officer at PACRA.

On Wednesday, Carol told the court that Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services belongs to her and her son Mwamba Chishimba Kambwili, who are both directors of the company.

Testifying before Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba via Zoom Video Communications, Carol, a staff nurse at National Health Service in Leicester City, United Kingdom, explained that the company was incorporated in 2001 while the family was still in Chingola, contrary to EEP leader Chilufya Tayali’s claims that it was incorporated in 2013.

She, however, only testified for a few minutes as she was supposed to go for work.

And when the matter came up for continued defence, Thursday, Carol said she and her son, Mwamba, sent a representative, a Mr Nyasulo, to register Mwamona on their behalf at PACRA in 2001.

She said initially, the plan was to have three directors – herself, Mwamba and her sister-in-law Sampa Kambwili.

Carol, however, said once at PACRA, Nyasulo discovered that a company could actually have two directors.

“So I thought about it and I said ‘let Mwamba and I be the directors and remove Sampa Kambwili from the directorship’,” she said.

Carol further said due to the political interference in Kambwili’s business, it was decided that she uses her maiden name and their son uses his middle name because they did not want the ‘Kambwili’ name to appear anywhere.

“I used ‘Carol Chansa’ and for Mwamba, I used ‘Mwamba Chishimba’ for the registration of the company,” she said.

Asked by defence lawyer Keith Mweemba to comment on Sampa Kambwili’s NRC which appeared under Mwamba’s name on the company’s certificates of incorporation, Carol said she did not know how that came about, adding that Nyasulo who was sent to register the company was in a better position to explain.

“I don’t know how that came about. I think Mr Nyasulo who went to register [the company] is in a better position to explain what happened. All I told him was to remove Sampa Kambwili on those papers. Whether he left Sampa’s NRC, I don’t know, but he is in a better position to explain,” she said.

In cross examination by deputy Chief State Advocate Margaret Chitundu, Carol admitted that Mwamba was eight-years-old at the time Mwamona was incorporated.

Shown the certificates of incorporation and asked if she knew whose NRC appeared on the document under Mwamba’s name, Carol responded in the negative saying at the time, Mwamba was a minor and did not have an NRC.

Asked if from the time the company was incorporated in 2001 to date, she had never questioned whose NRC appeared under Mwamba’s name on the documents, Carol insisted that she didn’t see that.

She added that she took it that everything was okay and only came to know about it when the matter was brought to court.

Carol further explained that since Mwamba was a minor at the time the company was incorporated, she used to sign on his behalf until they got power of attorney so that Kambwili could be a signatory on his behalf.

The State could, however, not finish cross examining the defence witness as she was having network problems on her end.

Cross examination continues on June 30, 2020 via Zoom Video Communications.