Supreme Court acquits Namata, cashgate convict
The Supreme Court of Appeal has acquitted cashgate convict, Maxwell Namata, because there was no proof of any contract between his company and government among other reasons.
“The state witness said he was not aware of a contract between Ministry of Tourism and Cross Marketing [Namata’s company],” Justice Lovemore Chikopa said in the ruling flanked fellow justices Anthony Kamanga, and Rezine Nzikamanda.
Namata was earlier convicted and sentenced by the High Court in February 2015 to consecutive custodial sentences of three years and five years for theft and money laundering respectively
But the Supreme Court yesterday unanimously agreed that the High Court convicted Namata wrongly because the state failed to prove theft.
“To prove theft, there must be lack of consent, deception or misappropriation of facts but in this case, the state didn’t prove lack of consent, deception or misappropriation of facts when it departed with the cheque,” the ruling read in part.
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