The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has re-engaged its former employee and now private practice lawyer Clement Mwala as lead prosecutor in former president Bakili Muluzi and Lyness Whiskey’s K1.7 billion corruption case.
After a month of inactivity following the recusal of one of three ACB prosecutors Reyneck Matemba, the court resumes sitting today in Blantyre where the defence lawyers are expected to continue with the cross-examination of first state witness Victor Banda.
ACB Senior Public Relations Officer Egrita Ndala confirmed the hiring of Mwala as state lead counsel yesterday.
She, however, could not be drawn to name other individuals who are likely to be part of the prosecuting team.
The graft-busting body has been undergoing a legal team re-organisation process for the past four weeks following Matemba’s recusal on what he said are personal reasons and the expiry of the contract that Mwala initially signed with the bureau.
Matemba’s recusal and Mwala’s contract expiry technically left ACB prosecutor Imran Saidi as the only state lawyer remaining but presiding Judge Maclean Kamwambe is on record to have questioned Saidi’s commitment towards the case.
Mwala, who once worked with the bureau as a prosecutor, has been part of Muluzi prosecuting team for a long time and has this far partnered with former ACB Director Alexious Nampota, former ACB Director of Legal and Prosecution David Bandawe, Saidi and Matemba among others.
Although on April 14, the day the defence counsel started cross-examining Banda, Matemba introduced Mwala as the state lead counsel, Matemba became de facto state team leader in court.
In an interview yesterday, one of Muluzi lawyers Jai Banda said the defence team is prepared to continue from where they stopped in the cross-examination process.
“We were told to go to court tomorrow [Monday] for continued hearing and as defence counsel we are ready to continue from where we stopped before the adjournment. Actually today [Sunday] we are in office the whole day for further preparations,” Banda said.
In the days that defence cross-examined Banda, defence lead counsel Tamando Chokotho questioned why the investigations concerning what Muluzi acquired during his tenure as the president included income from his own companies and transactions that happened after leaving public office in May 2004.
The defence wanted income from companies and transactions after May 2004 be scraped off from the alleged misappropriated K1.7 billion to which the first witness agreed with some deductions and disagreed with some.
Last month, the High Court Judge Maclean Kamwambe rejected Muluzi lawyers’ application to have the case discharged due to the state’s failure to prosecute the case taking into account the moving out of Matemba and Mwala.
Kamwambe, who noted that the state seems not willing to prosecute the case, said he was still hesitant to set the Muluzi and his co-accused Lyness Whiskey free.
The case is expected to resume on June 13 to 17 then from August 1 to August 12 2016.
Muluzi, who was arrested in 2006 and first appeared in court in 2009 in a case that has been subjected to several adjournments and excuses from both the state and defence teams.
There are 15 corruption-related charges against Muluzi and out of them Whiskey is answering three.
Muluzi, who ruled Malawi from 1994 to 2004, is being accused of misappropriating public funds between 1999 and 2005.
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