Cashgate suspect Kamwangala bail revoked for court contempt

The High Court in Lilongwe has revoked bail for ‘cashgate’ suspect, Kettie Kamwangala, following her failure to show up for a court trial at the Lilongwe High Court criminal division.

The matter came before judge Fiona Mwale on January 21, 2020,  under file number 43 of 2013 State versus Kettie Kamwangala but the judge reserved ruling on a number of preliminaries as brought forward by the defense.

In her ruling, Mwale said Kamwangala failed to appear before court without proper justification and procedures.

“Emergencies will always arise but when going out a person on bail has to ensure all necessary steps are taken to ensure that they avail themselves for trial by filling emergency application forms,” said Mwale.

According to Mwale, failure to attend trials invites certain penalties and such penalties include forfeiture of  bail.

But prior to the judge’s determination, lawyer for the suspect, Yankho Maele, argued that her client was requesting for adjournment of the case since his client was to sit for examinations soon in Zomba.

The lawyer attached the examination time table as evidence, which, to some extent, aggravated the court for her lack of seriousness.

Mwale said she was “very surprised” with the request by the counsellor, describing it as strange.

She wondered: “What would have happened if the suspect was still in custody?”

The Court accused Kamwangala of putting her interests above that of her serious court case.

The State paraded the last witness on top of the other witnesses which the state already paraded.

The last witness had told the Court that after conducting search at the Ministry, it was revealed that no one new about the Exploration company.

The last witness said the suspect was also interviewed but she never said anything.

Court commenced full trial of cashgate case in the criminal case Republic Versus Kettie Kamwangala 43 of 2013 on 29 October , 2019 in which Kamwangala pleaded not guilty.

Following the not guilty plea, the State paraded three witnesses.

One of the witnesses Kenson M’bwana told the court that during his time as Director of Administration, he never dealt with Exploration Company.

Another witness from her office also testified that indeed she was the one who dealt  with the cheque to have it cashed.

In the case, Kamwangala is being accussed of siphoning millions of government money through what was commonly known as cashgate.

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