Court dismisses K3, 500 repayment claim

RABECCA BANDA writes

@SunZambian

The Chilenje Local Court has dismissed a claim for refund of K3, 000, money loaned to a third party at 50 percent interest.

This is in a case in which Natasha Chisanga, 23, a student of Lusaka’s Kabwata Township, sued Phuep Phiri, 30, an accountant of Madras residential area.

Chisanga told presiding local court magistrate Patrick Nyrienda, sitting with senior local court magistrates Ackim Phiri and Harriet Mbewe, she loaned K3, 000 to Phiri, through a money lender friend, after he requested to borrow it for custom clearance of his clear at the border.

She said, “He asked to borrow K3, 500 from me but because I knew it would be difficult to return it if he got it from me, I took a K3, 000 and gave it to my money lender friend to give it to him at 50% interest.”

“So my friend Emmanuel, a money lender, gave him (Phiri) the money at 50% and he was supposed to pay back K4, 500,” Chisanga said.

According to Chisanga, Phiri and Emmanuel signed the agreement for the loan and the money was to be repaid within seven days.

She said that Phiri only paid a K1, 000 to her but began defaulting.

Chisanga said, “I began pressurizing him to pay back the K3, 500 balance and eventually disclosed to him that the money was mine.

“I brought him to court because I want him to pay me my K3, 500 balance,” she said.

But Phiri in his defense, Phiri denied borrowing the money from Chisanga saying he infact got it from Emmanuel her friend who also signed the agreement.

He said, “I got the K3, 000 from Emmanuel and we both signed the agreement.  

I came to discover it belonged to Chisanga when I started defaulting but I explained to her that I will still pay the balance to Emmanuel because he signed for the loan.”

The court, in making judgement, dismissed the claimed because the loan agreement was between Phiri and Emmanuel and not the plaintiff.

The court advised Chisanga to ask Emmanuel, her friend, to sue for the money on her behalf.