Malawi tax body crackdown on opposition lawyers in elections case
The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has descended on the lawyers representing opposition leaders who are challenging results of the presidential election, claiming that they were rigged in favour of President Peter Mutharika who was declared winner with 38 percent.
Nyasa Times understand that MRA has started auding the lawyers representing the opposition and one of them, Pempo Likongwe failed to add Value Added Tax (VAT) on a K35 000 bill and has been fined K5000 000 which he has paid.
The tax collectors also went to audit Chrales Mhone’s law firm, Chris and Legal.
MRA wants the lawyers to settle their tax liability.
Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda certified the elections case as a constitutional matter and appointed the five-judge panel which comprises comprises Healey Potani, Mike Tembo, Dingiswayo Madise, Ivy Kamanga and Redson Kapindu. to hear the case.
In the case, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is the second respondent while President Peter Mutharika is the first respondent to a joint petition from two of the presidential candidates in the May 21 Tripartite Elections, first petitioner Saulos Chilima of UTM Party and the second petitioner Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party(MCP).
Last Friday the five-judge panel of the High Court sitting as a Constitutional Court in unanimously dismissed an application by Mutharika to have the petition thrown out for purportedly being “irregular, incompetent and incurably defective”.
MEC has since filed notice of appeal through law firm Churchill & Norris which outlines five grounds of appeal, including a claim that the lower court erred by holding that there is no requirement under the law for an election petition to be verified by a sworn statement and by holding that a petition is not a claim in terms of Order 18 rule 2 (1) of the courts (High Court) (Civil Procedures) Rules 2017.
The electoral body wants the Supreme Court to reverse the High Court’s decision in proceeding with the case on the basis that the petitions, initially filed separately but later consolidated by the court, were filed fraudulently, out of time and without sworn statements.
Its a good idea to audit these lawyers lawf firms, BUT it should be to both sides, the opposition a nd MEC+APM lawyers lawfirms.
Otherwise inu a MRA you are digging your own graves! You will regret!
Because DPP gurus including APM, Ben Phiri wolaula uja, Wa Jeffrey and hordes of soothsayers owe Malawians billions in tax revenue, they will do anything, including rigging elections, to ensure no one else takes over government for fear of being arrested for evading tax. It is their wish to rule in perpetuity and continue raping the economy.
Malawians hopes are that our judiciary will ensure sanity finally returns to mother Malawi. We are indeed a miserable lot as things are at present.
There does not appear to be any association between these tax penalties and the current elections political case apa. Not a single shred of evidence; the writer and the headline are simply misguided.
God bless you all,pangani zokonda dziko lanu wosati zimene zikupanga mbava kuimira mbava zinzawo pofuna kusaukitsa anthu osalakwa kufunabe kuwabera misonkho yawo
KKKKKKKK kutha nzeru Muthalika zake zada basi.
Accuse MRA of selective collection of tax from defaulters across the nation nobody will dispute the point. MRA the evil instrument of DPP vendetta has turned itself into a bloating paper for all political excesses. It’s either the legal brains in the Opposition Elections case or the MRA fat toads that will kiss goodbye to their career in the next three weeks when the ConCourt concludes the case
That is what happens in Africa.
Komatu if there is a lawyer who needs probing ndiye ndi Mbeta wa APM. But who at MRA can go to APMs lawyers to audit.
Sick organisations will always be abused to do the nasty jobs of failed demagogues
Mukamva kuti anthu wopusa ku Malawi ndiye a MRA. Nthawi yonseyi munali kuti, pano mwawona kuti awa akugwira ntchito yosanthula abwana anau pambalanganda ndiye mwati mubwezere? Pitilizani