THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) interview with Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General Wynter Kabimba over alleged illegal oil contracts yesterday flopped after he demanded that the process be attended by party members and members of the Press.

Last month, Mr Kabimba gave ACC a seven-day ultimatum to make public its findings on allegations of corruption levelled against him.

Mr Kabimba who is Justice Minister was summoned yesterday by ACC at 15:30 hours but arrived five minutes before the scheduled time.

Upon arrival, Mr Kabimba was received by ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono and other officials who ushered him into the building while cadres also made their way in.

He was taken upstairs by some ACC officers who told him to persuade party members to remain outside.

But Mr Kabimba insisted that the matter was of public interest and that there was no way ACC officers could interrogate him in private.

"I want to see the officer who is supposed to interrogate me... because I fixed an appointment at 15:30 hours and in fact, I came here five minutes before. I don't want to paraphrase my statement to the media.

"There is nothing to hide in this matter all what I want is the media and all these people around to be present when you interrogate me," Mr Kabimba said.

After conferring with an indentified ACC officer for some minutes, Mr Kabimba was then asked to go to the waiting room to enable the officers prepare a room that could accommodate people who had accompanied him.

However, ACC deputy director general Irene Lamba told Mr Kabimba that the interrogation could only go ahead in absence of cadres and the media.

"Honourable, this matter is confidential, there are a lot of people around it's not possible to do our work," she said.

Mr Kabimba told Ms Lamba that Defence Minister Geoffrey Mwamba was also in support of ACC that he had a dossier about him (Mr Kabimba) over oil deals hence his demand to be interrogated in public.

Ms Lamba insisted that the commission would make fresh arrangements to interrogate him.

Mr Kabimba said he was disappointed that ACC officers failed to interrogate him after availing himself in an open manner.