GENERAL AFFIDAVTT OF' ZAI]EEDA ESSA

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 5 of thefor rCaths Act, Chapter 33 of the Laws of

Commissioner

Zambia

f, ZAHEEDA ESSA, a British National resident in Zambia of2A/74/317a, chil-a Road, Kabuloga, Lusaka, in the LusakaProvince of the Republic of Zambia, do hereby MAKE OATH andQnv +1--+.UNI LIIAL.

t1l I am a f emal-e adult of sound mindand as such competent to depone to theAf f 1dav.it.

--l ,l.i^^^^.:L..:drrcl or_sposl_tron

f acts in thi-s

l2l My full names and address are as stat.ed above. I am

an Advocate of the High court of Zambia practising under thenzma :nrl c1-rr1-g of AED Advocates . I-lowevcr - nri nr l-n f haf _ f nrrrvvvvquuo. lrvwsV9r/ IJ!rVI LU UtIqL, !U!

t.he period May 2005 to November 20L0, I was the Legal counsel-

for the Mahtani Group of Companies (MGC) .

JUSTIFICATTOI{ FOR TH]S AFFIDAVTT

t3l Shortly before leaving my employ with the MGC,

against my l.ree wil-l and choice, I was forced to engage inactiviti-es, which were detrimenta.L t.o the interests of theMGC, its emp-Loyees as well as my own interests as a person andas a lecrel nr4glitiOner.y,- (

l4l Agzrinst my free will- I was forced t.o continue theseactivities until after September 20LL, when there was a change

of Governmenl: when f regained my freedom and was ab]e to actfreely.

f5tLv I AgeLinst my free will officers of the Drug

Enf orcement commission (DEC) made me a witness in crimi-nal-cases against some of the officers of the MGC. I was forced bythe officers to discuss matters and information that had come

to me in my capacity as Legal Counsel for the MGC

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dJ(:t.inq for fift(i on beha.[f irf itl:r i,:Ii.e*r'ttEJ n;rni$J,1r, Mrrririr':l Mr)]r"rni+d

lia Lama, of Fl.ane ProrroBiclilr ;illri P;rc.:(.:urefiientr.s Li.miteel, rldrIy;:eu.s

M*rncleltakis, of Ocly's Wor:ks [,imi.t.errl eincl t.lote.l liEr:r [,ilnritr,rrl ;rririMr':. Arttorrjo Vent:riglia, of ilnrnLria Fort-lanei (iemerit l,irrrj.t.,eirl

(gPC) r I was f orced to sign atf;i.cjlavll:s ancJ w j.l;nsss stat;ernerrts

wftlch were latern w1[hout my knowledcle, used in varieusi case$ln whlch sone of the compan 1.e* in the MCjC werc or. a rei.nvolved.

t7l I depose to the f acls ln Ehis af f iclavit out c.:f my

own free wlltl in order to expl.aln the circums[ances leadlng Bo

t,he actions I have outlir"red &b,cv@ and also to show thateverything that was done and said dur:lng thls perlod was done

and said :Ln order to save mysel.f and my f amlly f rom

harassmenLs and inhumane treatments bv officers from the DEC.

GENB$IS: THEI EVENTS OF FBBRUARY 2010

t8l Th.e events which prompl,ed what, I did/ starl-ed onr r ]'nThursday AuL' February, 201"0, when officers from DEC, led by Mr.

Justice Phiri, called at my office on the Fifth floor, Finance

House, Cairc' Road, Lusaka and told me thaL they wanted to know

the whereabouts of the original share Lransfer forms of ZPC, a

company in which Finsbury Investrnents L-i-mited (FIL) , one ofthe companies in the MGC had inl-erest. In response to thlsquery I offered them to examine the documents I had with me on

the matter. They decl-ined the of f er and tol-d me that theywoufd come back after getting further instructions from theirarrnari arcv qvv!

tel On Wednesday, lOth of February 2OIO, the same

officers came back to my office and to1d me to accompany them

to their offices, which I did. I was not told the reason why Iwas required to at.tend their offices. At the DEC offices I was

interviewed from 11:30 hours until 16:30. AII the questions Iwas asked touched on the share transfer forms of ZPC.

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t 10l On l?tn February, 2010, LrHe of f tcers led by Mr:.

Justlne Phlrl vlslued my offie.:e llor the thj"rd tlme aE sroundlL:00 hours dnd told me [c FcrIIrBw thenr to bhelr offlces. Iasked the offlcerE to allow me Epeak wlch my lawyer Mr.

and lnf orm h.im about whst I had been told to do,

Mundaehl SC tolcl me that he spoke wlth theofflcers and told them that, he was not In a pocltlon toaccompany me ps he had Just lost hls slster that mornlng. He

agreed wlth the offlcers to accompany me to the DEC offlces on

Monday, L5tt' pebruary at around 10:O0 hours. The content ofthis conversaflon was conflrmed to me by the DEC offlcers who

Ieft my offic$ on the undergtandlng that f was to attend theirof f ices wittr ltf r. Mundashi the followlng Monday at L0:00 hours.

tlzl Notv,iithstandlng thie agreement the DEC Of f lcersreturned to m[ offlce for the fourth tlme at L6:30 hours and

told me to fo]low them to their headquarters. I asked them tospeak with r'lr j, Mundashl SC, whlch they dld, and told him thatthere had beeh some chanqes and I was to follow them with or

oice but to complv with their-i l,lar.aman rqrrvErllerrE f or unoa*t lawYer to

urrli-rr"r r was interrogated from

17:30 hours !o [9:00 hours on the same issue of zPC share

transfer forms.

t13l I r$fused to answer most of the questions touchingon matters whi]ch had come to my knowledge by virtue of my work

as Legal Cc'urlsel f or the MGC. Furthermore, at the materialtime, the issue of the share transfer forms and the entire

ject of litigation before Mr.

in September 2008 under cause

ties are FIL as the plaintiffand Mrs Manuela SebastianiThe position of FIL in this

t of the shares of ZPC and theremainder of: the shares are held by Ital Terrazzo Lj-mited, a

company owned by the Ventriglia family. The position of Mr and

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UJI:re deLainecJ itr one ill.fic.:cl .rnql r)Ot1 clll(:iw6id ,;o visiL. t,iitir

l.Jiltihr.oorns wi t-houL. an o!. I ir.:t:]' F['r:ruent. I was li(.]l ilJ.lcl!.,,cr-i l:t,

npeak with or sit wit,ir aily orrc ol Iiiern,

t19l I was tolcl uo unlock my office docrr: and a.l"J,eiw thtiof f icers to search " r explai,ned [,hat r clid not, have the kqy,thereupon Mr. chiflre Phirj., dirercled one of his offIcers Iouse Ehe fire extingulsher to hreak tire doclr Lo my officc,which he d;i-d. ?fhen r refused E() wltness che search in mv

offj.ce, thel7 ordered the secturity guard, Mr, Nyambe, to stanclin my office whilsl- they conductecl their search. They issued a

warrant to search my of f ice. On t-he advice of my lawyers, .I

declined to sign it due to some irregularitles ln that it dicinot authori-sie the search of my of fice.

120) From my of f ice they sei:zed f iles relating to ZPC. Ihad fil-es o,n ZPC because FfL, one of the companies under theMGC, hol-ds shares in ZPC and was instrumental in raising most

of the money needed by ZPC for the cement plant. They tookother files on matters which were not the subject of my

interrogaticns such as Kwikbuild Corporation Zambj-a Limitedancl Eaole P;lrk Horrsino f)erzelonmenr- f,imited. The officers went

on to search the of f ice occupj-ed by Ms . Chisha Muta1e. I have

now come to learn, through my inter:acti-on with Mr. Salama,

that he was interested in taking over the Eagle Park Housing

Development with the former President Rupiah Banda, hisbrother and his sons.

l2I) The search went on until around 20:00 hours, when

the DEC of f :Lcers took me to my parents' home, where I live .

Upon arri-vaf they indicated that they were going to search thehouse, whichL they did until 22:00 hours. Nothing was seizedfrom my parents' home. After the search f was taken back toWoodfands Police Station where f w;rs detained for the niqht.

l'22) I have come Eo Ie,trn lrom Ihe cff lcer-$ frr>rn DIit] thdLthey had lnvlted the zambia Hrcrarlcesting sorvlcea (aNBc) Newscrew to Flnance House Eo f i ,irn ther gearch, The ev€nce of thtsday vJere lndeed televisecl i)ri h.her lg:00 hours News wirile theseareh was stlll golng on,

PER,SONS ''lHO

INSTIGATED THE SEAREHEIS AND MY ARRESTS

l23J I have come to learn that the forceful entry to the5uh Floor, Finance Houser flv lnterrogatlons and arresus 1n1ere

carrled out' by the DEC offlcera at Ehe Instance of Messrssalama, Mandenal<1s and Mr. Ant,onlo ventrlglla worklng wlththelr lawyor Mr. slkota. Thetr lnvolvement was personalryconflrmed to me by these persons ln my various conversationswith them at times indlvldually and sometlmes collecttvelywhen we met for dlscussions

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t24) Merssrs salama, Mandenakls and ventr{gria haddealings with FrL and urtlmately Ehe chairman of the MGc, Dr.Rajan Mahtani. In the case of Mr. Mandenakis he had started a

hoteL development project opposiEe Arcades shopping cent.re.The project was being undertaken through his company call_edOdy's Works Limited. He had initially obtained funding fromzanaco Bank Limited who could not go on funding the project.To overcome his financial- chal-Ienges he invited Dr. Mahtani toget lnvol-verj in the pro j ect and Dr . Mahtani agreed . Thi sresulted j-n t.he f ormation of a company called Hotel_IierLimited 1n which FrL hords 51 per cent of the shares and ody/sworks Limited holds 49 per cent of the shares . Mr. salama was

involved in the hotel, ds a contractor through hrs company

Flame Promc,t.ions and procurement Limited. Mr and MrsVentriglia contacted Dr. Mahtani to start a cement productioncompany by the name of zPC as they did not have the money t.o

start the project. Dr. Mahtani, through FrL agreed to takepart in the proj ect and was responsibi-e f or securing al_l_ them^na\7 rrcad f r;y the Cement nro-ier-1-urrv verlrelr u .v! vJ gu u .

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t25l I Fm aware that ellfferences exlsr be[ween MJ,

Mandenakls anH Dr, Mahtani ein ehe funding of Lhe hotcl projeeEand how the project's llablllrles to FBZL are t.o be addressed.

nd VenIriglia t,hrough theird lnt,o comme.rcial transact,ions

found onereus Eo perfe:rm andwere all detprmlned to find wayc and means to cscape fromthelr flnanclal. and cont,ractual obllgatlons. They shared the

rn:I Nachirnuthu, who ls Dr . R,a1 an

retary, that whllst the eearch

ebruary 20L0, she recelved a

. Salama, who aseured her thatto her and that he would make

t.lons and Procurements Llmitedagainst me at DEC through itsDuring the course of the many

ith Mr. Salama and his friendsher perrsonaLLy told me that he had used the DEC

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offices and resiciences of some of the MGC

utive officers. They also directed the seazurehe computers in of f :Lces and residences.

Tr:r the case of Mr. Steven powel_l_ to facll_itatescheme, he was appointed as an investigations

cer in the Anti-Monr=y Laundering Unit, by le[terr ^rdd 3'* May 20L0 / signed by Mr. Aaron ZuIu,rssr-oner Dt;u.

As part of the campaign Lo harm Dr. Mahtani and

businesses, in particul_ar Finance Bank Zambia

teci (EBZL) | Bank of Zambia workinq toqether withby letter dated 5th May 2OIO, two OuV" after the

er from DEC/ al-so appointed Messrs Amos SikazeleaIi, Steven Powel-.1 Ray GiIIespie and pooe

nio, all of ENS as agents of Bank of Zambia toy out investigations into the operations ofI a company which is part of the MGC.

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w ands Police Stati 10:00h offices where I e]evenm thenrarzi nrrc arron j11g bein VieWed

t 31 I Around l" 4 I 3 , Lhe bers werefrrrma'llrr rrrgg'[gq[ a f:gedt n .tO Saka

Magistrate Clo{r|... AU, I was a di ourLroom and whilst [here ] was format d and Thenfrarnae in5i^Sl, me h/e1.e:

( a ) oirst;ruct ing offic€)lis ng uce

origin;rl sltiire ce€rt- j:f icer[es to ,26

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t3 4 I Thre events of the dav werre captured and televised bv

both MUVI T\/ nd ZNBC. There were also reports on the Watchdog

website to w ichr memloers of the publ-ic commented on the

arrests and s arches. Some of the comments ridicul-ed me in mv

as in my prof essiona.l- capaclty.hArQaft'1 -a< Irt6t I

r?51 w know that the events described above were

orches E,ratecl y the Messrs SaLama, Mandenakis and Ventrigliawith their 1a ver Mr. Sikota workins with t.he of f icers f rom

o overwhelm me emotionally and physically, forceith them and obt.ain from me information they

, wlrich they coul.d use in their efforts to f ight. Mahtanl and his bursiness interests.

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FURTHER ARRESTS AND CR]MINAL CHNRGES

t40I The statement read that I was charged jointly withMr. Barkat Ari of EBZL, with the offence of conspiracy tolaunde:: US$203,,Q00 . 00 cont rary to section 9 (2) of theProhib:Ltion and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 14 of2001. My passport was seized once again and I was detairrecl atwoodlands Police station until Monday , 22no March | 2oro I when T

was releaserl on bail. On Friday, 1"t April , 2OLOt I was aqal-n,called by the DEC officers and intervi-ewed on allegations offorging the signature of a Mr. zurfikar Patel- and stealingUS$15r500.00 from Flame Promotions & Procurements Limited, a

company in which Mr. Sa1ama is a director as wel-l as a

sharehol-der,

t 411 T was arrested and detained at Woodl-ands Pol_ice

Station ancl released on bond in my own recognizance onc - +,. -,1 - ,, .1:rduquur v,y | - ApriJ-, 2010, af ter the intervention of the Law

Association of Zambia and the Attorney General-. f was releasedon condition that I report to the offices of the DEC once

every week.

l42J On 4th May 2OLO, the DPP entered a nol-l-e prosequi inrelation to the charges against me for obstructing officers by

failing to produce original share certificates contrary toSection 26 of the prohibition and Prevention of Money

Launderinq Act No. 1-4 of 200I, and against the el-even f orobstructing authorized officers contrary to Section 26 of theProhibitlon and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. I4 of200L.

t43] Asi soon as we were out of the court room, in thenrFsonce of f hc medi a - f he DEC of'f icerS ordered al-l- of uS to

follow them to DEC headquarters. lJpon arrival- the el-even were': -r"r "-r r"- 1 1" 'i nf errocratecl rrntil aftef 16:00 hours. For m\/ na rfJiT(lJVJLf||JAIJy rrluE!!vVquEv ulllLIJ CIILEJ- J\J.VV tl\JuID. !(Jr- ruJ yare

I wa,s arrest.ed and joint.ly charqed with Mrs. Bridget. Banda ancl

Mr, Nyambe Namushi f or t,he of f.ence of obstrucIing authoriseciof f i cers contrary to Sect.ion 26 (a) of the Prohibi b.ion and

Preventlon of Money Laundering AcL No. 14 of 2001. This case

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never went to court but we were toldr ds a condition of ourrel-ease to report to DEC every Friday unl_ess advisedotherwise.

l44l On Monclay , I'lt" May, 2OIO, the Dpp entcrcd a nol_l_e

prosequi in relation to the char:ge of conspiracy to l_auncler

us$203,000.00 contrary to secLiorr 9(2) of the prohlbition andPrevent j-on of Money Laundering Act No. 1,4 of 200r, against me

and Mr. Bar;rkat A]i. on the same ,luy, my passport was refeasedto me but f was ordered to surrender i L to Mr. .lustine phiriin relation to the obstruction charge of 4th May 2OIO.

t45l On Saturday, IJ'n July 2OLOt I was once again cal_ledto the DEC offices, where r was interrogated in rel-ation tosignatuires ilppended on cheques in the name of zulfLkar patel_

in the sums' of US$108,000.00 and 2MK96,000,000. I was toldthat r had signed the said checlues and sto.len the amounts

indicated on the cheques from Fl-ame Promotions and

Procurementsi Limited. I was ar::ested and f ater released on

bond, in my own recognizance, after being and charged for:(a) Forgery contrary to Section 342 as read with

Se,ction 352, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambta;

(b) Uttering False Documents contrary to Section352 of Chapter 81 of the laws of Zambia; and

(c) Theft contrary to Siection 212 of Chapter 81 ofthe Laws of Zambia.

l46l On Friday, lOtn September 20L0, I received a letterof demand f :rom Messrs . Cen'[ral Chambers, dated 6th September,

2010, demancllng damages for profer;sional- negligence and fraudon behalf o:F Flame Promotion and Procurements Limited in Ihe

sum of ZMK195r 000,000, US$728 t000,00, and legal fees in thesum of U5$150,000.00. ParE of the money demanded was thesublect of the criminal charges against me.

t 4 7 I Bef ore I coulcl reply to l-he said 1e I ter of demancJ ]received a i{rit r:f Summons and St;a t-ement of Cl-aim dated l Oth

Sept,em):er 2010 issued under cause number 201.0/HP/966.

Accordj.ntl to the document-s Flame liromotions and Procurements

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Limited was the Plaintiff and Professionaf Services Limited asFirst Defendant and myself as the second Defendant. ThePlaint:Lff claimed against me the sum of us$135, ooo. oO andzMKr95,000,000/ interest, damagesj, and costs, which case isstill acti-ve.

MY DECISION TO WORK WITH MESSRS SIKOTA, MANDENAKIS, SALAMA AND

VENTRIGLTA

t4Bl In the light of t-he evenLs I have outlined abovecharacter j-sed by arrests and re-arrests, r f ina11y l_ost hopein the legal system and l-aw enforcement officers. r was

convinced t-hat Messrs sal-ama, Mandenakis, Ventrj-glia andSikota had t-he President of the Republic of Zambia and al-] thegovernment offj-cers and institutions on their side and thenrosncr-fs n1= them clesfrnrzino me- in j-he 11rrlr.oqq nf dael-rnrrinavuru!vJrrry 1ils, rlr LlIv y!vvEoo uI UgJLIL/y_t_tIg

Dr. Mahtani as their main target, were very high. r had nonh:nna af f i alrt i nn 1_ ha nnmf jp66l f Of CeS aOa i n.St me _vvr(lvJrl9u !v!9ED u\,urrruL !t19.

l49l Throughout the period that r was being harassed byDEC off.icersi at the instigation of Messrs Sal-ama, Mandenakis,ventriglia zlnd Sikota, r kept rec;eiving t.elephone cal-l-s fromMr. Mandenalli-s Jr. , telling me to discuss the possibility ofsaving myself as Dr. Mahtani was finished and that it was iusta matter of time.

t50l I had known Mr. Mandena.kis f or some years as f had

worked closely with him on the hotel- development project byHotellier Lj-mited. r eventually succumbed to the pressuresand some'Eime! in october | 20!0, r called Mr. Mandenakis Jr . ,the .son of Mr, Mandenakis and told him that f was ready tomeet his father and consider his proposal on how r coul-d make

al.L the problems T was facing go away.

tSf 1 I met Mr. Mandenakis Jr , , aI pamodzi l-toteI where he

toId nre thal- t-he only opLion for nre was to ta]l< t-o Mr. sikot_aanci di.vulge any inf orma E ion r had against D:: , Ma]"rtani inre"LaLion Lo the investigations being conduc'[ed by DEc. I.le

consui.tri:d wi t,h his f ather, Messrs salama and sikota over ther\ "lA

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phone t-o cotrfirm what he had just told me. Mr. Mandenakis tol_d

me that if there was anyone who couf d ,save flr€, it was Mr.sikota, and if f refused or failed to co-operate wlth him rwoul-d Jlace further charges and find myself in ;ai] for a veryrong time. He added that his father and Messrs Salama, Sikotaand vcntriglia would ensure that r went to-jail. r did notreact to these suqqestions.

MEETING WITFI DEC COMMISSIONER AARON ZULU AND SAKWTBA STKOTA

152) OrL the 23'd day of October 2OIO, Mr. ZuIu, theCommissioner: DBC telephoned and tc,l-d me to meet him at the DEC

offices. However/ some thirty minutes before the timeannoi ntecl f c>r the meef i nn, he called and told me to meet him

at the fnter Continental HoteI, in Room 521-, instead. When fgot to Roonr 521-, f was introduced to Mrs. Sikazwe, anotherofficer from DEC and Mr. Sikota, t.he lawyer for Messrs Salama,

Mandenakis and Ventriglia. After the introductions Mr. Zulu

told the DEIC of f icers to conduct- tlre interview and excused

himself on the premise that he had other prior personal

commitments to attend to. Mr. Sikota on the other hand, saidhe was present in the meeting simlcly as an observer on behal-f

of the St.ate and that he would not take part in the interviewbut he was going to take noEes, whj-ch he did throughout the

course of the interview.r q? tLVVJ Mrs. Sikazwe started bv telllnq me that t-he venue

had been changed for me to feel free and coopera'Live with the

au l-horities in their errquiries into the ZPC share '[ransf erf orms, which she clalmed t-o have been f orged. According to her

Mr. Antonio Ventriglla and Mrs M;rnuela Sebastiani Ventriglianever signect the forms, She told rne that the Stat€ was givingrnc an opportunity Lo "corne r;:Iean", and in return I was to be

qi.vc-:r: irnmuni Ey f rom pr.osiec:uLion for my al.J.egecl ,invol,vemenI int-[rr: l'orgery and ot-her' ':I-].ege.tl ,-.:rlm:[,naI of fences.

t54I I tolci them t.haL f he s:lgnaIures on tl'ic+ f orms

tfiosr.: c-.f Mr ancl Mrs Vent rica-Li.a, I wan askeel i.f ired rlver

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the original share transfer forms, to which r responded in thenegat j-ve. r was shown a letter s-Lgned by Mrs . craven in whichauthor made reference to enclosing the "original,' sharetransfer Forms. r was asked if r had knowledge of the retter.I confirmecl that I had seen the acknowlcdgment letter fromPACRA, but had not seen the original- letter and itsenclosures.

t55l r was then told by one of the officers that it wouldbe in rny best interest to cooperate with the State as they had

a State witness who was willing to testify that r had in factcut and photocopied the signatures of Mr and Ventriglia on theforms. I told them that the accusation was basel-ess as I hadnnl_ dnna :n'.rl- hi na nl nqa f ^ What WaS beino al I e6ed aoainSt me.qrruYvv qYc

t56l A-Lthough I was told that Mr. Sikota was in themeetinq; jusrL to take notes, he ha<l in fact prepared affidavit.s€ar ma fa cinn T cinnarl t.heSe af:fidaVitS WithOUt feadincr fhemLrrvrv s!.LfvqvruJ vvJulrvuL !9qVIIIY ulIgILt

out of f'ear of further arrests, incarcerations and

harassments, Bv t.his time I had been made to believe that as

Iong I workt:d with them and gave them what they wanted I wou.Ld

be left 6l6rne. Mr. Sikota then cal-led a lawyer to the hotelthat came and commissioned the affidavits.

[57] To date Mr. Sikota, notwithstanding my repeatedrccrrrests - h;r.q not cri rrrrn mF con'i es of en\/ nnc a Ff i derrits he had! vYsvv sp t vrrv

forced me to slgn, But it has come to my attention t.hat some

affidavi'ts irave been filed in the Hiqh Court Registry and are

being relierl on ln severaL matters involvlng the MGC and thecompanies asrsoclated with Messrs Mandenakis and Ventriglia.

t5B I On the 2AEh day of Octobe:r 20]"0, Mrs Sikazwe and

another DEC officer came to my parentsr home, around 13:00

hours and said that they were going to search my office, which

thev did ancl seiaed three files:/a\

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case sIucly f11e;case study fi.le; and

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[59] on 26'n october 2oro, Mrs. sikazwe telephoned and tofdme to meet at the Inter Continent-al- Hotel- Car park briefly. fdrove to i:he hotel-. she askecl rlre wlreLlr<.rr. r knew a Mr.Mukumbota, and if r had his cel_l phone number. r gave her hiscelf phone ntlmhreir anci confirmecl that he was one of the driversworili-ng tor Dr. [4ahtan-i. During the exchange r asketl what t]reinquiry was all- about. She tof d me t.hat they had informationthat Mr. MuLkumbota knew the whereabouts of the files allegedto have been rentoved from varioul; offices on the Fifth Ffoorof Finance .House. on the same day of f icers f rom the DEC wentto sea-rch seme of f ices on the Fif t.h FJ oor. At the encl of theexercise nothing was seized.

MEETIlVG WITiI MESSP-S SlI]VUN HOW!"iL], /-\NIJ ROY GTLLESP]E

[60] THAT during the same week Mr. Sikota contacted me ancl

tolcl me to meet with Messrs Powell- ancj Gl 1 1 espi e, of ENS inthe Executirre Ff oor Meeting Room, at Hotel_ rntercontinent.al_. T

went to th,e hotel and f ound two gentl-emen who introducedthemsel-ves iis Messrs Steven Powel-.1 and Roy Gillespie forensicinvestigators from ENS of south Africa worki-ng with theAttorney General- of Zambia. They told me 't,ha.t they weremandated to i-nvestigate all the irregularities wlthin the MGC

including FIIzL I zPC, FIo'[e1]-ier Limlted, Fl-ame promotions and

Procurements Limited. They indlcated that there were alsoinvestigating al-l Dr Mahtanir s dea.L.ings with past GovernmenLs.

[51.] They told me they were in possession of substantialinformation which had allegedly been downl-oaded from Dr

Mahtani's computer harcJ drlve and glven to t,hem by a member ofstaff within the Mcc, They craimed that this individual, whose

name they di d not d j .gcl.ose to h€, had agreed 'bo cooperate and

ha<J accepted to be a witness for the state against Dr Mahtani,They wenb orr t-o say that- Lhey irad incriminating c{ata obtainedtr(rm conrput,elrs sej.zed from Ihe M(]c i:rs a resulI of searchescorrducted bi, DHc arreJ IiNS of f icers . The.y told me Iha l- some

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[62] They tol-d me that the state had signed immunityagreements with Messrs Justin Chinyanta and Yousuf Bazian ofLoita International- and Miss Chislia Mutale of FIL.

[63] They told il€, they had information about Dr Maht.ani/soffshor:e companies and bank accounts. They asked about myrl'lanar'l i-.''^r-vement with Dr Mahtani/s offshore comnanies- Therzvvrlrvrlu vvrLll uL !.rqrlLo.l.l_L D L_

said Dr Mahtani and inevitably r I wifl be chargedinternation;illy f or f raud and money raundering. But r wou]dreceive the help from the Stzrte if r assisted in theinvest j-gations. rn parti-cu]ar, that r woul-d be given immunityfrom p:rosec'rtion and all charges pending against me would be

dropped.

t 64 I r tol.d them that r did not work for EB?L hence r had no

personal knowledge of how the shareholding of the Bank was

structuLred. f had no knowledge of any shares being held intrust f or Dr Mahtani or otherwi se and f urt.her, though, fworked as MGC Legal Counsel, I hacl no dealings with any of ther I 'l onar-l nf f qh_**_...ore companl-es .

[65] They questioned me about mV alleged trips and presence

at some banlc in Switzerland, f exp-Lained that I had never been

to Switzerl-crnd although I had had discussj-ons with some people

from some S,ri-ss bank and expressed interest to take up a jobhtith them. The job offer never nraterial-ised and I continuedwlth my work at the MGC.

[66] They went on to asl( me erbout Hotellier Limi'red and

Flame Promotions and Procurement Limited. f informecl them thatthe position as explained to them by Messrs Mandenakis and

Salama was incorrect and Dr Mal'rtani- had interesb in bothcompanr.es,

| 671 They asl(ed me about some of f sLrore company tha t hel d

shares in Hc,Eellier Li.mited f or anel on behalf of Dr: Maht,ani. Itold Lhem that I had no knowJedge of t:he company Lel alone itsbeneficiaries,

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[68] In rel-ation to ZPC and in particuJ-ar the share t.ransferforms said to have been forged f was asked to confirm whetherthe signatu:res of Mr and Mrs ventriglia were cut and paste bya member of MGC. r told them r was not in a position to givethem snch confirmation. r did, however, teII them that from my

i-nte.raction with both Dr. Mahtanj- as representing FrL and Mrand Mrs ventrigria and their sons, and from the variousdocuments exchanged by the two parties I r knew theshareholdingl structure of ZPC. I to]d them that even withoutt.he share t.ransfer forms, r knew for certain that FrL held 58%

of the shar:es of, zPC I whil-e the ventriglia f amiry, throughthei:: company, rtal Terrazzo Limi'ted held 422. r exprai-ned tothem that there was in fact a sharehol-ders' agreement signedhrz:'l 'l nertics r:onfirm'i n,^r 1-h'i q nnqit-innr!rrrrrrY urrro I/vDr LJvII.

t69l r wasr asked about. the funding of zpc and r explainedthat most, af not all, the money used for the project was

=rr.naarl l,rrr nf Mahtani ffOm the I/er\/ hec"i nni ^^ aF +h.dr!d119cL,r rJy UL I"lcllLLdlI-L II(JrLL Lrre vv.Ly vEgrrrrrrrrg vr urrC COmpany.

l70l r wari queried as to why FrL was not refrected as a

shareholder from the very onset of the busi-ness. r explalnedthat to my knowledge Dr. Mahtani had known the Ventriglias formany years a.nd there was, in my opinion, in the init.lal_ periodmutual trust and respect hence there was no urgency in havingthe interesit of FIL reflected in ZPC. Furthermore, Iexplained, from what I knew Dr. Mahtani was not yet sure on

how the interest in ZPC was to be structured, The pressingneed Ehen was to get the project off the ground. The structure^a +\^^ *^-+res/ interesl- In ZPC was not e nrpss'iur Lrlc pclr Lf e$ J_tlLergrJL JIt arv wds yLvu_*ng ]-ssue.

Howeverr the parties dld pr€pdre and slgn a shareholders'agreemenL. in which they respective interests in ZPC and otherobllgatlons and expecta'Eions were stipulated

['il J Af Eer this meeE.ing j.t was obvj-ous to me that bothMesst:lr t'owell and Gill.espie v/ere more interesEed in gettinginformation which could be used by the Ventrigrias in Lhe caseun(ler c--ause 2008/Hp/356, :ln wirich lrhe shareholdi.ng of r,pc is a

maio)r issue. At the end of the meet j.ng r told them r would

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think about their of f er: of i mnrrlrri f y

criminaf cases against me. About thewere not in a positi_on to mal.',e anyrala:<a l_n rna

arrrl 11r-rasliing of all_ thenass'tlorf f '}'rr=ru qr'i r{ l}rorrn___" errvJ

nromisa nn ii_ q ra,1 qcilr'lr,IrvutJa{/a\i

tl2l T later contact-ed Mr. si j<ota ancl tof d him r hacl my

concerns about working with them against Dr. Mahtani. r wag

more concerned and troubled about being a witness for theState againrst Dr. Mahtani, who by that time had been arrestedand was facing a number of criminaf charges with thcpossibility of other charges to folfow. Mr. sikota assured me

that the State would fook after me and he and his cl_ientswoufd be there for me financial-Iy as well. A decision inf avour of the State against Dr:. Mahtani wou]d be in mv

interest ancl that. of my family.[73] on the same day in the afternoon when r reached home I

found Messrs Mandenakis, sikota and salama tarking to my

parents . r j oined them. Mr . sikot.a tol-d my parents that itwou.l-d be 1n my best interest to be a witness for the st.ate.The al-'t-ernat.ive was a long time in jail. Mr. Sikota went on toassure my F,drent.s that his clients wou]d take care of them

financially,[7 4 ] M.r. Iialama told my parents; that he would not provide

financial sutpport but would ensure that all- the claims he had

against me h/ere discontinued. He also promlsed to ensure thatall the criminal charges against me were dropped. Mr

Mandenakis for his parI went furEher and said to me and my

paren [. s that. there was on]y one person who coul_d help me and

that person was Mr. SikoBa, With regard to my loss of income

in the event that r indeed opted to work with t,hem in view ofthe f ae I t]rat f was stil.l an employee of the MGC/ Mr.Mandenakis said he ancl Mr Antonio Ventriglia would take careot t}-ia L. .

['15]At t-ire end of. the meeting ih was agreed that .t wouldcjooLleral-e w:i.th them on t-Ire undersbernding that a].L charges

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against- me woul-d be dropped, my passport returned to me and

Lhere woul-d be rro further crimina_1. charges.

[76] After: this meeting it became clear that Messrs sikota,Mancl enakis- Sal-ama and Venfri crl'i .4 \arer€ workincr r:loqclrr r^rifhr\,ras vve!u vvvrr\rrry vrvDEfy wlLll

the of f icerlt of the DEC on i n.st-rrrct,i ons f rom President Bancia .

Thcy wcrc behind my arrests, cletentions and the criminalcharges I was facing. All their actj-vities were desiqned toweaken me s() that r could be of help to them. r had no doubtabout their: inf ruence and cros;e interactions wit.h st.ateinstitutionsi. There was no doubt t-hat they had the capacity todesLloy rrre oLtrd trLy fatiiily.

[77] At th,e time of this meeting I was stifl working for theMGC. After the meeting I decided to appfy for a three week

medical learze, which was granted. Whil-st on l-eave Mr. Sikotatelephoned and told me to back to the office and retrieve a

document whi-ch he said was benefir:ial to his clients in theircases against Dr. Mahtani .

tTBl I cannot recal-I the nature of the document but Iramamhar nni nn Fn f 1-ra nf f igg WhilS b. On leaVe '[.O _]_OOk f Of it .! vrrrvrLrvvr YvJ-rrY

When I could not find it I asked Vlrs l\achimuthu and I gave her

some explanation as to why I needed the document, whichexnl anaf 'i on she did not believe and wonclerecl whv T would need

such a document while on leave, This event raised suspicionsand I was told by Dr . Mah Lani ne'uer to go back to my of f ice^ ^-..i *duclJll.

IMMUN]'IY AGREEMENT

[79] T'his was a very emotionally trying period for me.

f)rrrl nn rhiFr nefiOd MeSSfS Gillesnje arrcl Sikota crave me a draftvu'L4|lYr/vr*v*++vgt/4v:,L1vv

immunity agr:eement wlr,Lctr waF sub j ec t- l-o the approval. of theALtorney General. Ahor:t. Llte passporI I was t,o]d thls could notbe J:t:.1r.:;:setd as t.hey l'c:,.1r'<:c",1 [hal- I wouIrJ run arai]y ancl nevet: tof:fi t;ur:rr t.ei Zamh:iat,

l80l Durinr; t-he i.rc1.n':i(] c:f ILr.i.s inLeract-jon and as an

^i nc.renl:,i.rre $e Lltafl l. r:(,til r-i nct Lre lta.ras$ed f urtl-rer, .l clrd sign

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a number of affidavits in favour of Mr. sikotars cfients. r donot recal-l- the contents of some of the said affidavits becauser was not al-l-owed to read thern and those that r read my

obj ect j-ons and observations were ignored as r was to]d tosimply sign. them. Furthermore, r was not given copies of theaffidavits. In the case between IlfL and Mr and Mrs VentrigliaI was mader to sign a witness staLement to contradict thewrtness statement r had made earlier in my capacity as LegalCounse] f or the MGC.

iBll r was deepry troubl-ed by t.hese developments and at onetime r tolcl Mr. Sikota that r w;rs not going to stand by thecontent of the said affidavits and witness sta'Lements infavour of h.is cf,ients. rn response he warned me that r woul_d

be committing perjury if r did so, and that he wou]d ensurethat r wasi criminally prosecuted. All the affidavits and

statements r signed were draft.ed by Mr. sikota and r signedthem againsl: my free wilf because I feared further arrests and

imprisonment. By January 20!L, mv relationship with Dr.Mahtani and the MGC was completely severed.

[82] rn the early part of 2017,, nolle prosequi was enteredby the DPP in case started by Mr. sal-ama against me. Sometime

in the first, week of May 20Lr, the criminal- action against Dr

Mahtani rerating to the complaint by Mr and Mrs ventriglia on

the share t:ransf er f orms went before court, A f ew days beforethat I was given the Immunity agreement signed by the Dpp.Ar.nnrdinn {-n i-ha r^raamah+ l-hc naqqnrrrt WaS .EO be fefainer.l hrlqYrvvrrrvrru er.e yq,JeIJv! u WqD UV rrE !gLAIllEL{ t)!

'Ehe DPP ancl given Eo me only after r had testified in thevarious cases against Dr. Mahtani.

[83]A't th,e pre-trial briefings, f was asked if I had a copyof the fore:ns1c reporE prepared by Dr Klatzow, based in capeTown, Sou'b.h Africa, the forensic expert retainecl by FIL. The

report- was for Llse-i.n t.he clvil matter between FrL as thePlainLif f and the Mr and Mrs VenErig.Lia as the clefenclants. Imade the report aval lable to t.he of f icers f rom FJNS who

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indicated t.hat they were going to sr_rbpoena Dr.test i f v i n -l-he criminal ca.se aoa i nst Dr Mahtanj-.

Kl-atzow to

TI-IB trLtrCT]O]$S OF SEPTEMBER 2OII AND TFItr END OT ASSOCIATION

i84l I wars tofd by Mr. and Mrs Ventriglia to be at court on

the date scheduled for hearing to show Dr Mahtani that I was

cooperating with the State, which I did, though the trial didnot coffini€rrce on that date. There were numerous other meetingsbetween myself and Mr Sikota and his clients, untif JuIy 20L7,

when I stopped and started avol-ding any contact with them

ovnanJ- far 1-ha \/on1-ninli:c

[85] In July 201L, Dr Mahtani suffered a heart attack and

srrkrseorrenf I rz had multi brzna ss rtnFn hea rf sltr.rFr\/. Rrr f haf---IYv4-I.uJ

time, f was made to befieve that the State had dispensed withthe services of ENS. However, Mr and Mrs Ventriglia engaged

the service,s of ENS to verify whether in fact Dr Mahtani had

suffered a heart attack as reported in the media and to verifyhis whereabouts in South Africa.

t86l I later had a meeting with Mr. Sikota and told hiro todiscontinue the action against Dr. Mahtani and the Post

Newspaper he had commenced in my name and for him to speak tothe DPP to release my passport. Mr. Slkota did not act on any

af m\,r rerrrr4gls and I was forced to draft notice ofdj-scontinuance which was lodged in Court in October 20LI.

[87 ] Af ter: the change of government, in October 201,1., Ireceived a cal-l f rom the of f icerrs a I DEC that the State had

decided that I was noE a flight rj.sk and returned my passport

to me " This development relieved me of the enormous pressure Iwas under and gave me the confidence Lo stand up to Mr. Slko'[a

and his clielnts -

tBBl I have not had dealings witfr Mr. SIkota ever sinceexcepl- co arsk for e:opies of alI afficlavlts he and his clienEsforced me to slgh, To date T have not l:ecelved copies of the

said af f idar,'tts.

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LB9l I have had one meeting with Mr Ventriglia in the firstquarter of 2012. He asked me to verify whether the mortgagedood ho qi rrnc'd and rocr-i sl- crorl lrrz Sl imez: - S,andur: ,f, n^^^^i ^r^^

-*y-,J;!t arru !s9!oLCIgLl lJy JJ-LtlYLat uorrVWo q nJ>uuIdLcJ

at the Ministry of Lands ancl Patents and Companies

Registration Aqency (PACRA) was fo:rged. He asked me to check

if I had a copy and go through it with hj-m so that I coul-d

testif y before the Ndol-a High Cou::t on L2th May 2012. T didnl-.rr-in = nlrnl. n.^n\/ nf the mortoaoe from PACRA and infOrmed him\JUL4f,Il A PrrV LV9VI/y vr Llre

that the cloc:ument was not f orgecL. He insisted that the

original had a cfause restricting the receiver from borrowing

and the receiver was in breach of Lris duties. I told him thatthere was no,3lause to that effect j-n the mortgage deed.

lgOl This affidavit was prepared by me out of my own free

wilI and I ilepose to the facts herein verily believing the

same to be true to the best of knowledge.

Sworn by the said ZAHEEDA ESSA'7zrvt

at Lusaka this -t')-t-'---- day-1

' t nlGot--sLVJYL/----- --20L2.

IL&

COMMISSIONER rOR OATFIS

DEPONE ATURE

Before me:

2An,l