By MAYA NTANDA-
A KITWE magistrate’s court has found a 49-year-old man with a case to answer  for allegedly obtaining K1,000 on the pretext that he would find another man a job at Mopani Copper Mines(MCM).
Senior Resident Magistrate Daniel Musonda found Bernard Phiri with a case to answer and put him on his defence.
Phiri is charged with obtaining money by false pretences after he allegedly collected money by pretending to be an employee of MCM.
On June 15, Phiri obtained K1,000 cash from Aaron Sikaonga, promising to find him a job at MCM when not.
In his ruling, Mr Musonda was satisfied that the state had established a prima facie case against Phiri to warrant the court placing him on defence.
One of the witnesses Patrick Botha, testified that on June 15 this year, he was approached by the accused person who offered to find him a job at Mopani.
Mr Botha told the court that the Phiri informed him that MCM wanted each job seeker to pay K1,000 for them to be employed.
He said he told Phiri that he did not have the money and that was how he referred him to his other friend Mr Sikaonga
“I was told that each job seeker should pay K1,000, I told Phiri that I did not have that kind of money and maybe Mr Sikaonga might have. That was how the complainant was contacted about the job opportunity presented by the accused person,” he narrated.
Despite Mr Sikaonga paying K1,000 cash to Phiri, a job was never found at the mining company as promised.
The matter comes up tomorrow for defence.