A close aide of former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba on trial on corruption charges has fled the country, the anti-graft agency said yesterday.

Anti-Corruption Task Force spokesman Mpazi Sinyangwe described as unclear the whereabouts of Attan Shansonga, ex-ambassador to the United States.

?The task force on corruption is now aware that Mr Attan Shansonga...is not in the country. The task force is making necessary efforts to bring him back. There is no place to hide,? Sinyangwe said in a statement.

Shansonga is jointly charged with Chiluba, ex-intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and four other former senior government officials, with stealing $40 million in public funds.

Prosecutors say Shansonga was the conduit through which the former president diverted cash from the Treasury.

Shansonga was suspected to have left Zambia via Zimbabwe, according to sources at the department of immigration.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has made the anti-corruption fight the main focus of his rule.