High Court Judge Said Chitembwe has told the court that the $7000 that was seized from his office by detectives was meant for paying his son’s university fees.
In an affidavit filed at the High Court, Judge Chitembwe said that he trying to find the right time to go to the bank so that he could transfer the money to his son who is at Edith Cowan University Perth in Australia before he was arrested.
He added that he had the money in his possession two days before he was arrested alongside his colleague Justice Aggrey Muchelule.
“I was waiting to find time and go to the bank for help on how to transfer the money directly to the university as requested by my son when I was unceremoniously and embarrassingly roughed up and arrested within court precincts for no crime at all,” the affidavit reads.
The judge went ahead to say that it was not unusual for his family to have foreign currency as his family operates a foreign currency account that is under his wife’s name.
“As a family we have kept a dollar account under my wife’s name for over three years and as such it is not unusual or suspect for me to have US dollars in my possession as is proposed by the police,” said Chitembwe.
Chitembwe argues that he willingly gave the money to the detectives during his arrest. He also said that being in possession of the dollars is not a reason enough for him to be suspected of fraud.
Chitembwe and Muchelule were arrested in July over allegations of receiving bribes to give favorable judgments in certain cases they were to preside over.
Their arrest sparked a lot of protests from the judiciary and other agencies that accused the government of interfering with the judiciary.
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