LUSAKA Lawyer Makebi Zulu says the case involving his client Faith Musonda is now water under the bridge because they met all the requirements of section 80 of the Anti-Corruption Act.

In an interview, Zulu said the process taken by the state was provided for by law and was not illegal.

“Does it matter who was there and who was present? It is an available avenue provided for by law that we explored. It is not an illegal process, it is a very legal process and it is not something that we are supposed to be discussing with stakeholders, the stakeholders were ably represented by the investigative wings, we represented our client’s interests. So, your interests were taken care of by the State. We have concluded the matter, it is now water under the bridge and it was done pursuant to section 80 of the ACC act, it will tell you what we are supposed to do and we fulfilled the requirements of section 80,” said Zulu.

“I take no pride in anything. All I know is I am serving my client’s best interests. That is what we stand for as a firm. Anyone has the right to representation and you should be given the best representation that you are capable of.”

Earlier this week, Lusaka Lawyer Elias Chipimo said the amnesty from prosecution granted to Musonda had set a bad precedent because plunderers would now only be forfeiting part of the looted assets and keep the rest, in a bid to go scot free.

“This is a bad precedent! I have always said that the way that you deal with cases of corruption is you have to do them in a public and transparent way. Relying on private negotiations between the purported perpetrator of a crime and the enforcement agencies when you had such endemic corruption is simply going to aid and abet the problem rather than fix it. Because we don’t know how much was purported to be legally acquired, so we are now left to speculate whether this was 20 percent of the potential alleged wealth that was accumulated in a manner that is still questionable or if it was 50 percent,” said Chipimo.