A businessperson convicted of laundering K78.6 million of public funds has been handed a 16 month jail term.

The man Stanley Mtambo who was convicted on his own plea of guilty in November, has already served a huge part of the jail term and will be released from prison next month. CourtDelivering the ruling Tuesday morning, Judge Esmie Chombo said Mtambo assisted the state to know about the availability of CCTV footage from Nedbank which helped the state in other cashgate cases. In her reaction to the ruling, Director of Public Prosecutions Mary Kachale also noted that Mtambo helped the state and pleaded guilty early in the trial hence the lenient sentence. Mtambo will however continue to face trial in the K2.4 billion case in which suspects also include former budget director Paul Mphwiyo who denies charges against him. Others suspects are former accountant general David Kandoje, Auzius Kazombo-Mwale, convicted civil servant Maxwell Namata, Steven Phiri, George Banda, Michael Mphatso, Samuel Mzanda, Andrews Chilalika, Clemence Madzi, Rosevelt Ndovi, businessperson Stanford Mpoola, Fatch Chungano, Cecilia Ng’ambi, Gerald Magaleta Phiri, Sympathy Chisale and Ndaona Satema.