Muluzi fate May 12: Judge says ‘State in total disarray’ with case of Malawi ex-president
Former President Bakili Muluzi should have his fingers crossed as the fate of his case -which the state claimed he had corruptly acquired K1.7 billion (about $11 million ) from donors in his account – will be known on May 12.
Judge Maclean Kamwambe set the date after defense lawyer Tamanda Chokotho applied to the High Court to strike off the case following the dramatic pull out of case by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) lead prosecutor.
ACB deputy director and his two colleagues pulled out of the case on Thursday citing personal reasons.
Muluzi, who governed Malawi from 1994 to 2004, has been accused of corruption for 9 years now alongside Lyness Violet Whisky, a former personal assistant.
Matemba told the court he has opted out of the case because of a “ number of factors” and that he made the decision “after a serious reflection.”
The move has drawn mixed reactions with social commentator, Stanley Onjezani Kenani hitting back on ACB on his Facebook wall: ”The Anti Corruption Bureau is a body that has become irrelevant and must be dissolved. Toothless, useless and corrupt.”
A fierce debate is raging in social media on the matter.
Others argue that there was no case in the first place as no donor would deposit money in a personal account and that charges were pressed for political inspiration as since trial resumed on April 11 2016 over K100 million has been deducted from the K1.7 billion and the defence expressed optimism that the figures will be deducted to zero at the end of the trial.
But Matemba clarified that his recusal did not translate into the discontinuous or withdrawal of the high-profiled case by the State (ACB).
“As regards the way forward for the case, depending on what the defence will submit to you, the State in this case the Anti-Corruption Bureau will communicate to you,” he told the court.
Judge Maclean Kamwambe said after accepting Matemba’s recusal application that the State is in “total disarray” in the matter.
Lead defence counsel Tamando Chokotho made the application to the court to have Muluzi and Whisky discharged.
Judge Kamwambe said on May 12 2016 he will meet the defence and State in his chambers before making a decision on the way forward.
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Thats how Malawi Government is like shameful ,for how long should the case like this one and other simillar ones can take for well professional lawers to come up with final judgement, this means our judicial body is useless.
This case was just cooked on political grounds. If truth be told, how come could the state rely only on bank statements that clearly shows the business companies of the former head of state depositing money to the account of the companies owner. Is that good enough to base on as evidence? No, the prosecutors were supposed to gather enough evidence like the name of the donor country that its money went missing, the cheque number, who derevered, when, where and what was the purpose of the funding. Shame on Malawi, the ACB, and the Judicial service.
BY THE WAY HAVE YOU HEARD THAT SUCH STUDENT HAS FAILED LAW AT CHANCO? THE ANSWER IS NO THEY ALL COME OUT THE COLLEGE WITH HORNS AND THIS IS SIGN OF WEAKNESS WITH OUR LAW DEPARTMENT AT CHANCO, VERY VERY VERY VERY POOR LAW LECTURES. CAN YOU SEE THESE DAYS EVERY LECTURE WANTS TO BE KNOWN AS PROF. …… RUBBISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why did the Doctor’s visits start as soon as the case resumed in court?
Was the DPP bribed via South Africa? We need to have someone look into whether money is being launderd or has been launderd via South Africa to DP Prisecut ors and DPP members. Please investigate both DPP’s holdings both in Malawi and South Africa.
People can be tried in absentia; why not Whiskey and Muluzi?
Malawian lawyers including those who teach them at Chilunga, are incompetent legal practictioners. They do not understand the law. No wonder in most cases they hire British lawyers. A cases, they handle, our village headmen can do. I wonder why we waste our public resources on these ignorarians
ZaZiii; MaRubbishhh OkhaOkha! How many times will the ‘A Corruption Bureau’ boss recuse Himself From cases on Personal Reasons. There4, He’s incompetent and the whole case is a piece of rehearsed commedy/drama ‘n the main charecter is ‘politics’. DZUKA MALAWI!
All along I knew this case will end up like this because it did not have tangible facts and evidence.More of hearsays than facts.It’s time this case ends.We don’t want to continue hearing about 1.7 billion case.Am fed up with this case which has no value to me.It was a waste of time.We need to start concentrating on issues that can help us now and not rubbish.I for one don’t see any benefit in either Muluzi being put in prison or not.
That is why we are saying this country needs a Federal System
This is a pre arranged case to blindfold Malawians. The key to all this madness is the way DPP Government handled this case during Bingu’s time. This is a propaganda case in attempt to make Malawians believe that Government is doing something on corruption yet technically there is nothing being done. Surely Malawi is technically a failed state. It seems everything is moving in wrong direction.
That is why we wanted the acb to be independent of this crooked dpp govt. Katemba for all these years, just realized that he has to recluse himself. What a joke? Fear of njaunju’s tragedy according to reliable sources. This disgusting Dpp knew that muluzi is more likely to be innocent but they have to use his case so that they also go Scot free on the 92bn and 577bn. After all these were bingu’s tramped up charges. Then all that remained was for some Dpp thugs sending threatening messages to katemba that he was lucky that njaunju’s fate didn’t… Read more »