High Court Judge Maclean Kamwambe has expressed displeasure at the conduct of the State in former president Bakili Muluzi and Lyness Whiskey’s K1.7 billion corruption case, arguing that the State is now proving to be prepared to frustrate court’s progress in the matter.
When the court sat for continued hearing on Monday, the lead counsel for the State Clement Mwala asked for a 30-day suspension to allow the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to review some counts out of fear that availability of witnesses in some of the 15 counts on the charge sheet may not be guaranteed.
Mwala also told the court that the graft-busting body had just re-engaged him on Sunday afternoon and there were no any arrangements to have Mzimba-based first state witness Victor Banda in the court on Monday.
In his ruling and direction on the matter yesterday, Kamwambe said the state’s conduct, which in his view borders on contempt of court, is very unbecoming and needs to stop; otherwise the court shall consider measures to be taken against the state agency concerned.
“I advise the State once again to demonstrate seriousness in the case at hand or come out plainly with its intentions,” Kamwambe said.
He said he thought this time around the State would act diligently to demonstrate their willingness to prosecute the matter as promised but their actions go the other direction.
“The State must have known that counsel required time to prepare himself mentally and physically for the case on Monday and that the court was coming for hearing and not as if it were sitting for mention. Further, there is no explanation from the State why it recruited Mr Mwala at the eleventh hour, a thing which was likely to affect progress in the case.
“As if that was not enough, they did not even alert the witness to be available in court on the 13th June, 2016. This means they are not utilising their house counsel optimally,” he said.
Kamwambe also said after looking at Muluzi’s Commonwealth events, he has also considered time for preparation for departure and resting after arrival apart from giving time allowance for the defendants to consult with their lawyers.
“I have not forgotten the defence request for time to study the counts as reviewed. Time for the State to review the counts started running on 13th June, 2016 and I give them a generous gesture to complete the exercise by 31st July, 2016. The defence will have all the time thereafter to the end of August to study the reviewed counts.
“The case shall come to mention on 1st day of August and another on the 17th August, 2016. I have done this so that the case is thoroughly prepared and truly ready for trial with minimum hitches when it proceeds,” Kamwambe said.
He then said during mention, Muluzi and Whiskey need not to appear because at this time the court will just be verifying on the two parties’ readiness for a smooth start.
The Judge has adjourned the case to a period from September 5 to 16 and thereafter from September 26 to October 7 this year.
Both Mwala and defence lead Counsel Tamando Chokotho expressed satisfaction with the time for preparations that the court has given with Mwala saying the state is willing to prosecute the matter.
Muluzi, who ruled Malawi between 1994 and 2004, is being accused of misappropriating public funds between 1999 and 2005 and was arrested in 2006 before his first court appearance in 2009.
He is answering 15 corruption related charges and out of them Whiskey, who was Muluzi’s personal assistant at the time is answering three.
The case suffered a major setback last month when ACB’s prominent lawyer in the case Reyneck Matemba recused himself from the case. His withdrawal led to reports that government was conspiring to have the case dropped.
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