By Arnold Tutu
A former Ministry of Education Laboratory Assistant has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour for forging school certificates and impersonating another individual.
Ms. CHILUFYA CHISANGA, Acting Head of Corporate Communications at the Anti-Corruption Commission -ACC, says the Lusaka Subordinate Court convicted SIMON MOYO, also known as GIVEN PHIRI, after investigations into fraud and identity-related offences.
In a statement to ZNBC news, Ms. CHISANGA said Lusaka Magistrate ANNA VOMVAS HOLLAND imposed sentences of two years’ imprisonment on three counts and three years on a fourth count, with all sentences running concurrently from January 22, 2026, the date of judgement.
She said Mr. MOYO, a former Laboratory Assistant at David Kaunda Secondary School, was arrested by the ACC in February 2024 and charged with two counts of uttering a false document, one count of personation and one count of obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretences, contrary to the Penal Code.
According to Ms. CHISANGA, investigations found that between January and December 2016 in Lusaka, the convict, acting with unknown persons, fraudulently obtained a replacement National Registration Card by falsely presenting himself as GIVEN PHIRI.
She said further inquiries showed that between January and December 2019, the convict presented forged school certificates from Petauke Secondary School bearing the name GIVEN PHIRI to the Ministry of Education and later to Evelyn Hone College, claiming them as his own.
Ms. CHISANGA said the investigations also established that during the same period, the convict unlawfully obtained more than K309,320.11 in salaries and allowances while employed as a Laboratory Assistant, resulting in financial loss to the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, Ms. CHISANGA said the ACC in Serenje has arrested and charged DAUTI JALANDI, a 37-year-old Assistant Labour Officer at the Chitambo District Labour Office, for allegedly soliciting a bribe from a mining company.
She said Mr. JALANDI has been charged with one count of corrupt practices by a public officer after allegedly soliciting K10,000 in cash from Chi-Metals Limited, a manganese processing company in Serenje District, between 1st and 31st October 2023.
Ms. CHISANGA said the money was allegedly demanded as an inducement to shield the company from possible sanctions by the Labour Commissioner’s Office.
She added that Mr. JALANDI has been released on bond and is expected to appear before the Serenje Magistrate’s Court on January 27, 2026.
