Zambia’s High Court has ordered the seizure of assets worth more than $1.3m (£923,000) from Dalitso Lungu, the son of former President Edgar Lungu.
The forfeiture order covers 79 vehicles and 23 pieces of land and real estate, including a shopping mall, petrol station, “luxury apartments and an executive residence” in the capital, Lusaka.
The judgement said the 39-year-old and his company had failed to provide a credible and verifiable explanation for how the assets were acquired lawfully.
Edgar Lungu, who led Zambia for six years from 2015, died in South Africa last June but has yet to be buried because of an ongoing legal battle between his family and the current government.
It follows a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, who defeated him in the 2021 elections by a huge margin.
Hichilema’s government wants his remains to be repatriated and given a state funeral, with full state honours – and a South African court ruled in their favour in August.
But the family wants a private burial in South Africa as they say the former president had not wanted Hichilema to attend his funeral.
Dalitso Lungu’s lawyers have indicated they will appeal against Monday’s ruling by the Economic and Financial Crimes Division of the High Court.
In assessing Lungu’s financial capacity, the court examined his employment history and income.
Evidence showed that he worked briefly at a beverages company in Lusaka in 2012 and later spent nearly three years at the Zambia Revenue Authority.
The court concluded that his earnings were insufficient, even when taken together, to account for the acquisition of the extensive fleet of vehicles and high-value properties.
Investigations into his company, Saloid Traders Limited, found that its financial statements, tax returns, bank records and social security contributions did not demonstrate the capacity to lawfully acquire or maintain the assets in question.
Claims that the properties were financed through commercial farming, business income or family support were rejected, with the court noting the absence of supporting documentation.
“[Dalitso] Lungu has failed to proffer further and solid evidence to substantiate his claims that Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and indeed his parents, were the source of the funds used to purchase the impugned properties,” the judges ruled.
Other members of the Lungu family have also been investigated in recent years for allegedly accruing wealth fraudulently.
In 2024, the high court ruled that the former first lady, Esther Lungu, had to forfeit 15 flats valued at $3.5m.
Critics say the anti-corruption drive is politically motivated.
Mrs Lungu has remained in South Africa since the death of her husband from an undisclosed illness.
She is leading legal efforts to have him buried in South Africa – and has just filed a notice at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to overturn the earlier ruling that her husband’s body be sent back home.
The family’s earlier attempts at various other South African courts for leave to appeal had failed.
Lungu’s body remains in a funeral home in Johannesburg.
By BBC News
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