Photo/FILE Former Zambia President Rupiah Banda's son Henry. Lusaka police have issued an international arrest warrant for the man believed to have flown to Kenya from South Africa. Courtesy of the Nation
Posted Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Police have received an international arrest warrant for the son of former Zambian President Rupiah Banda.
CID director Ndegwa Muhoro received a copy of the request sent to the Interpol headquarters in Lyon France.
Mr Henry Banda is said to have fled to Kenya after he was accused of corruption.
The Lyon office is expected to publish the red notice to all the 190 Interpol member countries and also post it in their website on Wednesday.
That will be the signal for all affiliate police forces to enforce the warrant.
The young Banda has previously been named in connection with a multi-billion dollar deal for the sale of assets belonging to Zambia’s state telecommunications company, Zamtel.
He is known to be a frequent visitor and at times resides in Nairobi. He has connections with top politicians and their sons.
Zambian authorities allege that he flew to Nairobi through South Africa.
However, police said they cannot conclusively state whether he was in the country, adding that they were liaising with the Immigration department.
“We are not aware of his whereabouts in the country but we are liaising with the Immigration department,” said Mr Muhoro.
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula, who had just returned from an African Union meeting in Ethiopia, said his office was yet to receive a formal request from Zambian authorities.
Zambia’s Inspector General of Police, Dr Martin Malama, said they were trying to extradite Henry from Kenya.
Henry is wanted in connection with what Dr Malama described as serious cases that could have been committed when his father was in power.
His name and that of a former Communications minister have been linked to a Cayman Islands-registered company that was paid up to US$12.6 million to evaluate the repossessed Zamtel assets whose value it placed at under US$20 million when the market value in two years’ time is expected to peak at about US$5 billion.
