Zambian president rues money spent on prosecuting former head honcho

Zambian President Rupia Banda says the government spent $13m in prosecuting former president Frederick Chiluba, and that the money would have been better spent on schools, medicines and hospitals. Chiluba was accused of embezzling $500,000 of public funds, but was acquitted of the charges in August. However, in a separate case in 2007, London's High Court ruled Chiluba had defrauded the Zambian government of more than $40m using British-based bank accounts, but it doesn’t look like he will face British justice any time soon. Meanwhile, Zambia's opposition accused Banda of interfering in the courts to secure the acquittal of Chiluba, and win over Chiluba supporters ahead of 2011 elections. Sounds sort of familiar, doesn’t it? Read more: BBC, Mail & Guardian