His father, the former president, (pictured) and younger brother Henry are also facing corruption charges/XINHUA-File
Andrew Banda, 53, was arrested in 2012 on charges of soliciting a kickback from Italian company Fratelli Locci, which was awarded a contract to build roads.
In passing the sentence, Magistrate Joshua Banda said he had considered mitigation presented by the defence that the accused was a first time offender.
But he said a “custodial sentence” was necessary and “therefore I sentence the accused to 24 months effective today, but both parties are at liberty to appeal.”
The court also found him guilty of failing to account for 360,000 kwacha (63,000 dollars/46,000 euros) found in his possession, which is suspected to have been proceeds of criminal activities.
Banda, a former deputy high commissioner to India and former first secretary at Zambia’s mission in Italy, is one of the many officials from Banda’s administration charged with graft, in a massive clean-up campaign launched by President Michael Sata after he came to power in 2011.
His father, the former president, is also facing corruption charges.
The Sata administration had also tried to implicate another of ex-president Banda’s sons, Henry.
It had reported Henry, who is based in South Africa, to Interpol, but it was unclear why.
No formal charges were laid, according to Banda’s spokesman Richard Elsen.
“Interpol withdrew the red notice against Henry Banda because the Zambian authorities had not actually brought any charges against him,” he told AFP Saturday.
“The request by the Zambian government was deemed politically motivated in contravention of Interpol’s strict rules,” said Elsen.
No comment could be immediately secured from Zambian government officials on Saturday on whether or not there was a national arrest warrant against Henry.
Henry Banda, who is the younger brother to Andrew, has been out of the country since his father lost power to populist Sata in the 2011 presidential election.
Andrew Banda, who did not indicate if he intends to appeal the sentence, had earlier told AFP that he was ready for anything.
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