Former National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) deputy Chief Executive Officer Gerald Viola has been given a three year suspended sentence.

Principal Resident Magistrate Viva Nyimba handed the sentence today after convicting Viola last week Monday in connection with a K3.3 billion NFRA maize scandal.

The court found Viola guilty on first charge of misuse of office while his co-convict, businessperson Chrispin Chingola, was found guilty on the count of influencing a public officer to misuse a public office.

Chingola has also been handed a three year suspended sentence.

According to the presiding Magistrate, he took into consideration the fact that the convicts are first offenders and that they did not get any economic benefit from the crime.

Viola and Chingola were arrested by the ACB in October 2020 for unilaterally issuing to Missies Trading a Local Purchasing Order (LPO) number 6750 to supply 10 000 metric tonnes of maize to NFRA worth K3.3 billion for the business interest of Chingola of the said Missies Trading Company.