Zambian MP jailed for issuing dud cheque

A Zambian court has sentenced former Defence Minister George Mpombo to 60 days in prison for issuing a cheque on an insufficiently funded bank account.

The MP had recently resigned from his defence portfolio when his $2,000 (£1,250) cheque bounced last December.

The court in Ndola, in the Copperbelt province, also fined him $800.

Magistrate Kelvin Limbani said such cases had “serious consequences”, badly affecting the country’s economy, and his sentence would set an example.

“You deserve punishment so that you can reform and so that would-be offenders can be deterred from committing the same offence,” Zambia’s Lusaka Times quoted Mr Limbani as saying.

Mr Mpombo said he would appeal against his conviction.

Mr Mpombo, who represents Kafulafuta constituency for the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy, had been a minister for several years.

He served under the late President Levy Mwanawasa as well as his successor Rupia Banda.

The BBC’s Mutuna Chanda in the capital, Lusaka, says Mr Mpombo has been a critic of President Banda since his resignation from cabinet.

Source: BBC