AN arresting officer in a case in which two foreign nationals are charged with a case of offering for sale and being in possession of counterfeit wigs has testified that their business competitor was the one who produced the money to buy the alleged fake wigs and not the police.

Mwenda Pongaponga said Stripes Zambia Managing director Hassan Sasol was the one who provided some money for a trap to buy the fake wigs for the police to examine the wigs during their course of investigations.

She told Chief resident Magistrate Joshua Banda that there was no way Mr Sasol could have known about their investigation tactics of organising a trap because it was only known by the police.

Ms Pongaponga told the court that she could, however, not remember how much Mr Sasol produced to give his employee Patrick Masumba who in turn went to the accused's shop in Kamwala and bought 10 pieces of Ebony wigs which were used for thorough investigations.

This is in a case in which 32 year old Chinese national Zhou Zhiging and Abbas Makki 36, a Lebanese are charged with offering for sale goods bearing forged trade mark as well as being in possession of fake wigs.

The witness said the police were the ones who organised that monies be provided to buy the alleged fake wigs and not Mr Sasol, saying if that was what he told the court when he was called to testify then he lied.

Defence lawyers Ben Siame and Andy Wright had put it to the witness that the court was finding difficulties as who to believe sent Mr

Masumba to purchase the wigs from the accused person's shop between the standing witness and Mr Sasol because he had also indicated that he sent him.

But Ms Pongaponga pleaded with the court to believe her testimony, saying Mr Sasol lied to court when he said he was the one who sent Mr Masumba to buy the fake wigs.

And on whether Ebony Collection had exclusive rights to the trade mark, the witness said according to her investigations, she discovered that there were no exclusive rights on the use of the word collection meaning any one could use it.

Trial continues.