Assets Director Tukula granted bail: Malawi cashgate

October 21, 2014 Chancy Namadzunda – Nyasa Times 20 Comments

Public Assets Declaration Christopher Tukula has been freed after a Magistrate granted him bail following a court hearing in Lilongwe on Tuesday.

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

Tukula, a lawyer by profession, was arrested on Friday evening for allegedly interfering with investigations into the ongoing cases on Cashgate, the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill.

ACB accused Tukula among other issues of persuading one of the cashgate suspects Caroline Savala “to twist her evidence” she gave earlier on.

In making his bail bid , lawyer Ralph Kasambara who is also Savala’s lawyer and himself facing cashgate charges of money laundering , said Tukula  cannot jump bail as he is a lawyer.

In his ruling, Senior Resident Magistrate Paul Chiotcha granted bail and ordered Tukula to report once a month to ACB.

He was also ordered to surrender his travel documents.

Tukula’s arrest has sparked a heated debate in the country as the ACB was accused of making the arrest against a fresh court order to stop the same.

But ACB deputy director Reneck Matemba said the purported fresh order was yet to be served on the bureau.

Tukula was hired about two months ago as director of the country’s controversial Office of Directorate of Public Assets Declaration an office set to oversee the enforcement of declaration of assets by public officers including the President and his Vice to check corruption.

 Being the first ever Assets Declaration Director, Tukula was supposed to establish the office, recruit staff and start receiving the declared assets for the public to scrutinise on demand.
President Peter Mutharika, his deputy Saulos Chilima, cabinet minister and MPs were supposed to declare their assets within 90 days (three months) upon election or appointment. But since there was no director the deadline has long passed.
Although Mutharika and Chilima have said they have already declared their assets, the public has no way of inspecting the declared assets since effectively there is no director.
The idea behind the declaration of assets by elected or appointed officers is to check whether whatever assets they acquire while in office is commensurate to the perks of their offices.
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