Police in Zambia on Wednesday invaded the home of former President Edgar Lungu.
The law enforcers demanded that they search the house as part of a probe linked to the ownership of three motor vehicles and a title deed.
A spokesman for Zambia’s former ruling Patriotic Front party, Raphael Nakachinda, said police forcefully gained access to the Lusaka home of the former president.
“We woke up to a rude shock of having a battalion of police officers surrounding the house of the former president, and insisting that they want to have access to search the premises,” Nakachinda said.
A video shared on social media show officers using a grinder to forcefully open the gate before Edgar Lungu opened a smaller gate to let them in.
Police said in a statement that they received a complaint from two women that the former First Lady Esther Lungu had grabbed three vehicles and a property title deed from them.
“The incidents occurred between August 8, 2022 and August 9, 2022 in Lusaka.
“The victim, Elizabeth Chanje Phiri is alleged to have been detained at a Police Station and later driven to Ibex Hills at the Former First Lady’s residence where she was together with her daughter, made to surrender the said properties to Mrs. Esther Lungu.
“Police instituted investigations into the matter and managed to locate the properties at Mrs. Lungu’s residence in Ibex Hills where a Toyota Runx registration number BAV 3986 has been recovered,” reads the statement by Danny Mwale.
However, Esther Lungu’s lawyer said the allegations from the police were “insulting,” and added that Esther had given her side of the story.
“We hope they’ve understood that she is a victim in all this,” the lawyer Makebi Zulu said.
Mrs Lungu is expected to be interroatee by police today.
In July, the Drug Enforcement Commission, an anti-graft agency, questioned Esther Lungu over her alleged ownership of 15 houses in Lusaka.
Investigators said they believed the apartments were ill-gotten gains.
No charges were filed and Lungu’s lawyer told journalists the matter was closed.
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