PATRIOTIC Front Eastern Province chairman Andrew Lubusha is today expected to appear for interrogations at Force Headquarters in connection with the theft of a South African truck, a matter that is under INTERPOL investigations.

But Lubusha has denied stealing the truck, saying he is a victim of fake propaganda orchestrated by suspended Eastern Province PF youth chairperson Emmanuel ‘Jay Jay’ Banda and other members of his party.

Meanwhile, Jay Jay has accused Lubusha of illegally selling a truck that belonged to a South African dealer.

According to sources, INTERPOL South Africa had contacted their Zambian counterparts to help with investigating the disappearance of a truck which was said to be in Zambia.

“We got a report of stolen motor vehicle from a South African businessman, who claimed that the truck had disappeared in Zambia. Our office got in touch with INTERPOL Zambia, and an investigation was launched. Recently, we received intel that the said truck was under the custody of some businessman from Eastern Province (Jay Jay), who then reported that the truck had been taken by a Mr Lubusha,” the sources said.

“During Preliminary inquiries, it was established that the same Lubusha knows the owner of the truck and he claims that the said owner owes him some money. We are made to believe that this could have motivated the disappearance of the truck and so this makes Lubusha a key person in the investigation. We need to establish if the truck is in his possession as that would be a clear case of motor vehicle theft.”

When contacted for a comment, Lubusha confirmed that he was under investigations but said he was not a criminal.

“Somebody who is in a criminal offence of that nature, stealing a vehicle cannot be summoned because he is a pure criminal. Now the issue of the truck…I will try to comment tomorrow when I hear what the police will say,” he said.

Lubusha said he would demand that the police explain to him where he stole the truck.

“I can confirm that the police summoned me and I will be appearing before them and it is from there that I will demand for the police to tell me which truck went missing, where I stole it from and where it is. It is them to tell me,” he said.

Lubusha then accused Jay Jay of being the person in possession of the stolen truck.

“It is very petty propaganda being played and the complainant is suspended Eastern Province youth chairman (Emmanuel Jay Banda). I am not in possession of any truck, the one in possession of that truck is the same provincial youth chairman who is complaining. So I don’t know the game he is playing. I have not gone for any police investigation. I have been summoned but I am going there tomorrow morning,” said Lubusha.

In a separate interview, Jay Jay said he reported Lubusha to police and wondered why the senior PF official was pointing fingers instead of answering the charges.

“If I am the one that stole that truck, he was supposed to report me, why didn’t he report all this time? So let him go and answer the charges, not those fake things he is trying to put. I have reported the matter, it is now the job of the police to scrutinize, to see whether it is true. If it was me who had stolen it, how can he fail to report me? I don’t have any beef with my brother, I love him but I just want to put things in place,” he said.

Jay Jay explained that the truck in question belonged to his business partners in South Africa and claimed that Lubusha borrowed it from him before allegedly selling it.

He said the South African owner then reported the matter to INTERPOL who sought help from Zambia before he (Jay Jay) revealed to the police that Lubusha was behind the truck’s disappearance.

“He (Lubusha) came to my garage to borrow the truck. I told the owner in Johannesburg to say ‘my friend is asking for a truck to use’, and he said no problem. That is how come I allowed him but when I asked him where the truck was, he said it was confiscated when the bailiffs went to his garage. We later found out that the truck was in Copperbelt but he was saying the truck was with the bailiffs. It didn’t have any goods, it’s a truck that carries abnormal things. He asked for the truck, saying he had bought a grader and needed to move it. So we found out that those people who were using the truck bought it from him. Tell Lubusha to stop putting me in his dealings. Again, he swindled the NCZ and he is accusing me of leaking the information,” said Jay Jay.