By Linda Soko Tembo
The Economic and Financial Crimes Court has allowed prosecutors to introduce previously missing pages of a key internal Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) investigation report, rejecting defence objections that the documents should be excluded from evidence in the corruption trial of four former senior officials.
The additional pages form part of an internal report examining procurement decisions that underpin several allegations in the prosecution’s case.
The accused are former ZAMMSA Director General Victor Nyasulu, former Director of Supply Planning Nalishebo Siyandi, former Director of Procurement Habadu Nchimunya, and former Ministry of Health official Dr John Kachimba. All four have pleaded not guilty to corruption-related charges arising from ZAMMSA’s 2023–2024 emergency mop-up procurement of medicines and medical supplies.
The ruling followed testimony by ZAMMSA Director of Internal Controls Vivian Mupunda, who told the court that several pages of an internal investigation report she prepared could not initially be traced but were later recovered with the assistance of auditors.
State prosecutor Gracilia Mulenga applied for leave under Rule 5(6) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Economic and Financial Crimes Court) Rules, 2024, to disclose the recovered pages, arguing that they were unavailable when the prosecution filed its documentary evidence. The rule allows the court to admit additional evidence before the prosecution closes its case where the material was unavailable at the time of the original disclosure, provided the defence is given an opportunity to examine it.
Lawyers representing the four accused opposed the application, arguing that the prosecution had failed to demonstrate that the documents were genuinely unavailable at the time of disclosure and that admitting them during the trial would prejudice the defence and undermine the disclosure rules governing criminal proceedings.
Magistrate Peter Mungala dismissed the objection and granted the prosecution leave to disclose the additional pages, allowing them to form part of the evidence before the court.
Earlier in her testimony, Mupunda told the court that although she sits as an observer on ZAMMSA’s Management Procurement Committee (MPC), she neither participates in decision-making nor votes on procurement matters.
She said that during the 2023–2024 mop-up procurement exercise, then Director General Nyasulu directed the Internal Controls Department to coordinate a due diligence exercise after raising concerns that some suppliers recommended for contract awards were expected to deliver medicines within “ex-stock to six weeks,” despite the procurement being intended to address an urgent national shortage of medicines.
Teams comprising procurement officers, pharmacists, accountants and internal auditors were tasked with verifying suppliers’ stock holdings. According to Mupunda, the exercise found that some suppliers could not confirm they held the medicines they had bid to supply, while others appeared to rely on the same stock as competing bidders. Investigators also noted significant price differences for similar products, with some quotations exceeding the Zambia Public Procurement Authority market price index.
Mupunda said that while compiling her report she requested procurement records, including an earlier due diligence report, but was instead provided with what she described as an unsigned evaluation report and a checklist lacking sufficient detail.
She further told the court that an earlier procurement paper recorded Lumumba Pharmaceuticals as having failed to submit a bid, but that the company later appeared among suppliers recommended for contract awards.
She also identified differences between two procurement committee papers, including revised budget figures which, in her view, made procurement prices appear to fall within the permissible procurement threshold.
Turning to a separate investigation into the procurement of cholera commodities, Mupunda told the court that in January 2025 her office received a whistleblowing complaint from Jean Chongo, who alleged that her name had been included on an evaluation report despite not participating in the evaluation process.
Following the complaint, Mupunda said she obtained procurement documents relating to ZPC Paper No. 99 of March 2024, valued at approximately K16.8 million, under which contracts were awarded to Yash Pharmacy, Cube Pharmaceutical and VL Healthnet Services.
According to her testimony, the review identified several irregularities, including purchase orders exceeding K1 million contrary to public procurement rules and delivery records indicating that Cube Pharmaceutical supplied goods before the Procurement Committee approved the procurement process.
She further told the court that three ZAMMSA employees, Chongo, Lola Nambela and Mundia Sianga, all denied serving on the evaluation committee despite their names appearing on procurement documents.
Mupunda also testified that investigators reviewed electronic communications between procurement officers Chanda Napanje and Sipho Banda. The emails, she said, indicated that some quotations were submitted after goods had already been delivered and included internal discussions raising concerns over unbudgeted products, evaluator names and altered budget figures.
According to Mupunda, the investigation concluded that budget amounts had been revised to fit the allowable procurement threshold. She compiled a report and submitted it to the office of the then Director General, Dr John Kachimba, who instructed that the matter be referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).
She told the court that during the investigations, DEC officers observed that several pages were missing from her report and requested a complete copy. Mupunda said she was initially unable to locate the outstanding pages, including on her laptop, but auditors assisting with the investigation later recovered them in June 2026.
Magistrate Mungala adjourned the matter to August 26, 27 and 28, 2026, to allow the defence to examine the newly disclosed documents before proceedings continue. Police bond for all four accused was extended.
Police bond for all four accused persons was extended.
See all the other stories related to the case
- Court Clears Way for Trial of Former ZAMMSA Officials in Medicines Procurement Case
- Former ZAMMSA Officials and Ex-Health Official Plead Not Guilty, Challenge Indictment
- Former ZAMMSA Boss Due in Court Over Medicines Procurement Case
- Drugs, Deals, and Dismissals: How Politics Poisoned Zambia’s Drug Supply Chain
- Power, Politics, and Procurement: How ZAMMSA Lost Its Independence
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