Pika Manondo bail plea rejected, to stay 50 days in custody

One of the suspects in former Malawi budget director shooting Pika Manondo has been ordered to remain in custody for 50 days after High Court sitting in Lilongwe rejected his bail plea on the grounds that he is a flight risk.

Pika Manondo is being accused of a revised charge of conspiracy to murder Mphwiyo. Days after Mphwiyo’s shooting, Manondo was reported to have fled Malawi and placed on Interpol wanted list.

Making the determination on a bail application on Monday, Judge Ivy Kamanga said the state demonstrated that Manondo is indeed a flight risk.

According to Justice Kamanga, the State proved that Manondo did not hand over himself to Malawi authorities but he was escorted from Kenya and was handed to Malawi police at Songwe border.

Justice Kamanga also quashed the defence argument that Manondo should be given bail taking into consideration that some other people who are also answering to the same charges are out on bail.

“That’s not on, because every case is handled on  [its own] merit,” she said.

The Judge also said the defence, led by John Gift Mwakhwawa failed to demonstrate that the State was pressing Manondo to implicate one of the accused, former Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara.

“The fact the accused was moved to Kasungu does not justify that he was being forced to implicate others,” she said.

Kamanga said if Manondo- who has been in custody since 8th November 2013  –  will not be brought to court before the 50 days, the court will then consider bail.

Manondo recently told Nyasa Times that he will reveal how some powerful people were able to sidestep Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) internal controls to loot billions of public money.

He also threatened to disclose beneficiaries of the Capital Hill looting to investigators of the matter.

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