Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has ratified “Settlement Agreement” – granting expelled former vice president of the Football Association of Zambian Richard Kazala Laski the right to be heard.
CAS’s Consent Arbitral Awards terms direct that Kazala be provided with a copy of the charges and supporting documentation that Andrew Kamanga, the FAZ president, forwarded to the federation’s Council within 14 days.
Kazala will in turn draft his response within 28 days of receipt of the charges and supporting documentation. This will be included in FAZ’s agenda for Annual General Meeting set for March 2018.
“…in furtherance of his right to speak in his own defense, produce his response to the charges and supporting evidence by currier to the General Secretary of the respondent, who in turn shall include the same with the AGM agenda,”
FAZ Council voted 264 out of 278 on March 25, 2017 to expel Kazala and Blackwell Siwale, Executive Committee member, over corruption charges.
The two were accused of failing to fully account for tickets President Edgar Lungu bought for fans for a World Cup qualifier at home against Nigeria mid-2016.
Lungu is said to have dished out K 1,650,000 for the purpose but only 1,500,000 was accounted for.
The Council’s verdict was, however, contested at the CAS as Kazala and Siwele, felt they were not given opportunity to clear their names.
Particularly, Kazala will now have a date before the supreme governing body of FAZ to tell his side of the story as directed by CAS.
“The Appellant shall be entitled to attend the AGM and to speak in his own defense. The Respondent will secure the appropriate accreditation for the Appellant to attend the AGM and his security at that,” CAS directed.
Further: “The Executive of the Respondent shall within 21 days consider with its Legal Committee whether it it’s able to afford a like right to be heard in his own dismissal case under Article 37 of its constitution to Mr. Blackwell Siwale.”
Siwele, who blames Kamanga for his woes at the football body, expressed excitement at the outcome of the arbitration process.
“I’m excited because this is what I cried for from the word go, to be heard,”
“He (Kamanga) lied to the Council about my response to the allegations. I held more than five meetings with him over the matter exonerating myself but he got nothing out of them intentionally,”
“The tickets that I allegedly failed to account for were not directly given to me but to a government official,” Siwale told Soka25east.
If cleared, Siwale intends to return to football development, which he considers a “passion and commitment.”
“Development of young players and women football is/has been my priority. Patson Daka, the current CAF Youth Player of The Year was my baby when I was president of Nchanga Rangers FC.”
