Maizegate case involving Grace Mijiga fails to resume at Lilongwe court 

Hearing of the case involving Chairperson, of Grain Traders Association , Grace Mijiga Mhango, who is accused of forgery in the procurement of maize from Zambia failed to resume at the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate (SRM)Court on Thursday.

The case is related with that of former agriculture minister George Chaponda whose acquittal by the Zomba Senior Resident Magistrate is being challenged at the High Court.

According to Mhango’s lawyer Chrispine Ndalama, the case failed to commence because Senior Resident Magistrate  Shyreen Yona was not available.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will set a new date for the commencement of the hearing.

In an interview with Nyasa Times, Ndalama said  he was surprised with the pace the case is taking.

“Its just our surprise that it has taken ACB this long to commence the matter and that those who they said the matters were similar to were acquitted,”  he said.

Particulars of her offence are that “in or around July 2016 in the city of Lilongwe with intent to defraud or deceive, forged a proforma invoice for Seven Seas Trading and Enterprise in such a manner as to appear as if the said prorfoma invoice was issued by Seven Seas Trading and Enterprise when in fact it was not”.

Mhango was arrested together with Chaponda and director of Transglobe Produce Limited Rashid Tayub on July 18 last year over Maizegate charges.

Just like Chaponda, Tayub was also acquitted by the Zomba lower court.

At that time, ACB deputy director general Reyneck Matemba told the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court that the prosecution intended to consolidate into one charge sheet, meaning the three were supposed to be prosecuted jointly as the cases were related, something which never happened.

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