{"id":960,"date":"2013-03-25T16:43:40","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T16:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/zambia-ex-leader-banda-arrested-over-oil-deals-with-nnpc\/"},"modified":"2013-03-25T16:43:40","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T16:43:40","slug":"zambia-ex-leader-banda-arrested-over-oil-deals-with-nnpc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/zambia-ex-leader-banda-arrested-over-oil-deals-with-nnpc\/","title":{"rendered":"Zambia Ex-Leader Banda Arrested Over Oil Deals With NNPC"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fb-like-box\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DisNaija\" data-width=\"292\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-stream=\"false\" data-header=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"http:\/\/disnaija.com\" data-send=\"true\" data-width=\"200\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-action=\"recommend\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dis_Naija\" class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" data-size=\"large\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Follow @Dis_Naija<\/a><br \/> <script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>Zambia&#8217;s ex-leader Rupiah Banda was arrested Monday\u00a0 in Lusaka and charged with abuse of authority over an oil deal struck with Nigeria&#8217; s state firm, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), while he was in power, an investigator said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;President Rupiah Banda has been formally charged and arrested in connection with the procurement of oil which did not benefit the country,&#8221; Namukolo Kasumpa, a spokeswoman for government investigators, told reporters.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_158375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 291px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-158375 \" alt=\"Rupiah Banda\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.pmnewsnigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Rupiah-Banda-469x336.jpg\" width=\"281\" height=\"202\" \/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Rupiah Banda<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He was immediately freed on bail and is due to appear in court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The arrest came after parliament earlier this month lifted Banda&#8217;s immunity. The former leader who ruled Zambia between 2008 and 2011 was promptly questioned about allegations of corruption, money laundering and fraud.<\/p>\n<p>He lost power in an election to the current President Michael Sata.<\/p>\n<p>Banda&#8217;s lawyers claim the accusations are part of a ploy by Sata to silence opposition.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The charge is extremely vague and our only defence is the truth, he is innocent and the truth will been known,&#8221; said Banda&#8217;s lawyer Sakwiba Sikota.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will see the kind of witnesses that they are going to bring but we know he is innocent,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing exhausted after three hours of questioning by a special government probe unit, 76-year-old Banda told reporters: &#8220;Naturally I would have been happy to be sitting at home but I have to go through this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sata&#8217;s government says Banda engaged in corrupt activities in the procurement of crude oil from a Nigerian firm, listed as the Nigerian National Oil Company in official documents. Nigeria&#8217;s state oil outfit is known as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).<\/p>\n<p>He is also accused of funnelling taxpayer cash into his election campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Since Sata came to power he has rolled out an anti-corruption drive that some have seen as a move to silence dissenting views.<\/p>\n<p>Banda&#8217;s lawyers last week petitioned the regional South African Development Community (SADC) over the &#8220;unlawful and inhumane events&#8221; taking place in Zambia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After being honoured as an esteemed statesman&#8230; Banda has been made the target of a vicious, cruel and unrelenting campaign of defamation,&#8221; the lawyers wrote in an open letter last week.<\/p>\n<p>They asked the regional bloc to &#8220;observe very closely the behaviour of the (ruling) PF government in coming days and weeks to see evidence of their malicious intentions&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\"> <img src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/PmNewsNigeria?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img> <img src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/PmNewsNigeria?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img> <img src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/PmNewsNigeria?i=a70k6seJesA:WJNFu3qNBqM:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img> <img src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/PmNewsNigeria?i=a70k6seJesA:WJNFu3qNBqM:-BTjWOF_DHI\" border=\"0\"><\/img> <\/div>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<br \/> Posted in <a href=\"http:\/\/nigeria-news.disnaija.com\/\">Nigeria News. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Not an original publication of <a href=\"http:\/\/disnaija.com\">DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<br \/> To visit the source, click <a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/PmNewsNigeria\/~3\/a70k6seJesA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\">here <\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>DisNaija.Com<\/b> publishes regular posts on <a href=\"http:\/\/nigeria-news.disnaija.com\/\">Nigeria News,<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/nigerian-newspapers.disnaija.com\/\">Nigerian Newspapers,<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/online-nigeria.disnaija.com\/\">Online Nigeria Gist.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dis_Naija\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DisNaija\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-like-box\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DisNaija\" data-width=\"292\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-stream=\"false\" data-header=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"http:\/\/disnaija.com\" data-send=\"true\" data-width=\"200\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-action=\"recommend\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dis_Naija\" class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" data-size=\"large\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Follow @Dis_Naija<\/a><br \/>\n<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Your Opinion Counts. 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Your Support Is Appreciated.<br \/>\n<img border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/thank-you.gif\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow @Dis_Naija Zambia&#8217;s ex-leader Rupiah Banda was arrested Monday\u00a0 in Lusaka and charged with abuse of authority over an oil deal struck with Nigeria&#8217; s state firm, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), while he was in power, an investigator said. &#8220;President Rupiah Banda has been formally charged and arrested in connection with the procurement of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[738,737,776,775,270,290,774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}