7 to testify against Itaye, others in fraud case: ‘Not guilty’ plea  entered

State prosecutors have said they will parade seven witnesses to testify against former Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) director general Godfrey Itaye and two others are being accused of abuse of office.

Itaye and his two co-accused Macra director of finance Ben Chitsonga and procurement specialist Joseph Ngalawa on Monday entered a plea of “not guilty”  when they appeared before acting chief resident magistrate Godfrey Balaka in Blantyre.

The trio is accused of authorising payment of about K8 million for the printing of party cloths for former governing party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

They are also accused of making a payment of about K135 million for the institution’s calendars.

After taking their plea of  not guilty, senior assistant Chief State Advocate Dzikondianthu Malunda asked the court to impose bail conditions on the three that should include having their passports surrendered.

Malunda said the State is ready to proceed with the case and will parade seven witnesses.

“The case came for hearing today, specifically for plea taking and the accused persons have all denied the charges.

“What will happen I that at the next hearing, the State will bring witnesses. We have  seven in total. The State will start parading these witnesses to prove a case against the accused persons,” said Malunda.

However, defence lawyer Clement Mwala  was not available for comment.

The court has since adjourned to March 5 as the date the trial will start and for ruling on imposing bail conditions.