The former DPP operative who was dubiously made Deputy Chief Executive Officer for National Food Reserve Agency (NRFA) Gerald Viola has been convicted of abuse of office in a case to do with the supply of maize worth 3.3 billion kwacha at NFRA.
The court in March last year found Viola alongside businessperson Chingola with a case to answer. Whereas Viola was accused of singlehandedly awarding a contract to Chingola’s company to supply 10000 tonnes of maize worth 3.3 billion kwacha hence forgery and conspiracy to misuse public office charges leveled against them, Viola alone also had this additional charge of abuse of public office and interference with the work of the Internal Procurement and Disposal of Assets Committee.
Following the conviction, Viola with bail revoked has been thrown to rot in jail pending sentence which Principal Resident Magistrate Viva Nyimba assured will be delivered soon
Meanwhile, the court has set 23rd February when another Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician Henry Mussa will be given a sentence following his conviction on theft and abuse of office charges. DPP politicians, one by one, are heading to jail for the reckless and criminal manner in which they conducted themselves when the party was in power.
