Mike Msungama released on bail
The High Court in Lilongwe has released on bail businessperson Mike Msungama, the first person to be convicted in relation to Cashgate, after an application by his lawyers to undergo a medical check-up.
Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court convicted and sentenced Msungama in March to 18 months after being found guilty with possession of a motor vehicle, Toyota Fortuner, suspected to have been stolen.
The vehicle was confiscated during a police raid at another Cashgate suspect — an assistant accountant at Ministry of Environment- Victor Sithole’s Area 47 house.
But Msungama appealed against his conviction through his lawyers Wapona Kita, Ralph Kasambara and Lusungu Gondwe claimed the vehicle did not belong to him but that he was holding on to i as collateral for a loan which a Mozambican national, Samuel Pofera Salambula, acquired from him,,
His lawyers also submitted a bail application on the grounds that Msungama had been due for a medical check-up in South Africa on April 18 2014 following his tumour operation, but he was imprisoned and that he had demonstrated that he was not a flight risk by travelling throughout his trial
Justice Ivy Kamanga granted Msungama bail on two sureties of K20 000 each non-cash and that he should surrender his travel document which would only be given to him when he had to travel for his medical checkup.
Msungama – who runs a deluxe car hire, starring the only limousine in the capital – was convicted days before he was about to formally wed his wife Pilirani Chimbeleko Msungama.
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