Former first lady Esther Lungu has been charged and arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for allegedly acquiring properties that are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime and money laundering, Public Relations Officer of the DEC Allan Tamba said in a statement.
"The DEC has formally charged and arrested the former First Lady, Mrs. Esther Nyawa Tembo Lungu, in relation to the ongoing investigations into her ownership of several properties reasonably believed to be proceeds of crime," the statement read.
The statement specified that one of the specific offenses for which Lungu was charged was money laundering.
She has been granted extended bail and can be recalled for questioning as the matter is still under investigation, the defendant's lawyer, Charles Changano, told media.