ACB, a right to reply: Muckracking EXtra

Last week the ACB was our guest on this page. We teased the anti-graft body how it could let a woman who skimmed K63 million from government get off with a mere slap on the wrist.

Tukula ((left) with his lawyer Kasambara ar the court
Tukula ((left) with his lawyer Kasambara ar the court

Well, Egrita Ndala, her whose day job is to tell us who has been playing monopoly with our cash, dropped by with a little lecture. Enjoy:

We write to clarify on the charge of theft against Mrs. Tressa Senzani in Muckraking on Sunday of 19th October, 2014 titled Raw deal. In his column Raphael Tenthani is questioning the reason behind the ACB charging the former PS with theft instead of theft by servant.

 It should be understood that the money which Mrs. Senzani stole was not from the Ministry of Tourism. The money was from the Account Number One which was not in the custody of Mrs. Senzani. Therefore, any attempt to acquire funds from the account was construed as theft. A suspect is charged with theft by servant on things which he/she was a custodian.

 In the column Mr. Tenthani has also accused the Bureau of hiding information from the court. The fact of the matter is that the Bureau had the evidence filed in court but the suspect pleaded guilty to the charges. Legally, prosecution does parade witnesses to prove a case whose suspect has pleaded guilty. It is only when a charge of not guilty has been entered that the prosecution tenders evidence in court.

 On the arrest of Mr. Christopher Tukula, it should be understood that Mr. Tukula was not investigated for giving legal advice to his clients. What the Bureau established was that Mr. Tukula was telling his clients as well as other people (who were not his clients but were called to the Bureau to give witness statements) to lie to the Bureau. This is tantamount to causing people to give false information to the Bureau.

 The case he has been arrested for started way back in October 2013 before he was appointed Director of Public Declarations. The Bureau obtained a warrant of arrest on 18th October, 2013. The Bureau had tried to execute it but Mr. Tukula was not available in Lilongwe.  What delayed the execution of the warrant was the injunction which Mr. Tukula had obtained on 25th October 2014, through his lawyer Mr. Ralph Kasambara.

 It would, therefore, be misleading to present issues as if the arrest has been done to incapacitate the office of the Director of Asset Declaration.”

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Watu
Watu
9 years ago

On the arrest of Tukula things are not adding up, arrest warrant issued on 18 October, 2013 and injunction on it 25 October 2014. So, over a year ACB has been trying to arrest him yet the guy was still in Malawi. Very interesting! Even if they are typo errors, ACB didn’t handle the matter impressively. The warrant issues shouldn’t take long time as in this case. Otherwise those who are talking about Realpolitik have a point. As for Senzani case, ACB gave the nation raw deal, no excuse can cover the mess. But it is not only ACB that… Read more »

mwana mulopwana
mwana mulopwana
9 years ago

Malawi ali pachiopyezo chachikulu, in my view, it does not matter whether the account was in account number 1 or account X, the issue is that the money that was stolen is govt money in other way round tax payers money, It just shows that ACB has a lot of stuff who does not understand their own job, and I don’t like the issue of bargaining, to my understanding the judiciary should draw a redline on the sentence otherwise it will be waist of time, a lot of people have died because of the theft , bodies has decomposed at… Read more »

contrarian
contrarian
9 years ago

Half-baked judges are costly to this nation. The public sweats to make ends meet and just a few crooks feast on the funds entrusted to them. The public will one day get their justice without the so-called lawyers. So much public funds abused and yet it is claimed that more tax should be collected. Mxxsh!

bingiza
bingiza
9 years ago

A civil servant is simply an employee of the govt and answerable to the govt.Stealing from the govt coffers in raw thinking,he is meant to be charged with theft by public servant regardless of the source of purse.The law must not be twisted to suit few individuals,anaba ndarama za boma and has to face the punishment equally

Baisoni Thom
Baisoni Thom
9 years ago

And this is the guy, who in Mr. Mutharika’s wisdom, having been schooled on how to circumvent the law by one crooked lawyer, should be the head of a government department whose responsibility is to ensure that people are truthful about their financial standing! Yes, we really are in trouble! This is the time for Lomwes to govern! Or is it to misgovern?

Mtumiki Woyamba
Mtumiki Woyamba
9 years ago

Ma labishi!

eye eye
eye eye
9 years ago

So where are these accomplices who authorised payment from Account Number One….to pay the millions to one Senzani? Should we read it that it is these people that paid the cash from Account Number 1 that should be accused of theft by public servant? There is something fishy here as there is likely to be a chain of them yet its only senzani arrested so far! For sure senzani did not write a cheque for herself from account number one: so, WHO released this money for ‘no services rendered’ from account number 1? Is it Minister of Finance? RBM Governor?… Read more »

petrol kali
petrol kali
9 years ago

mmmmmmmm egrita ndala the poor soul palibe chomwe ukuziwa iwe. mbava imeneyi senzani is sister to anna kachikho ivy kamanga ana ake amacheza ndi ana akaliyati. malamulo anthu amakomela anthu olemela basi tiyeni tivomereze. a egritta mungotayapo nthawi yanu ndipo mukundisekesa hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

M'ngoni wa pa Ntcheu
M'ngoni wa pa Ntcheu
9 years ago

Ok? Zayambika zomayankhana and defend undefendables eti? Tiyeni nazo tione kuti zititengera kuti.

dadaboma
dadaboma
9 years ago

ACB is bullshit.

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