Former Energy minister Newton Kambala was back in court on Wednesday to answer charges of corruption.
Former Energy minister Newton Kambala was back in court on Wednesday to answer charges of corruption.
Lilongwe’s Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa has since directed that lawyers representing the former minister and two others should inspect for three days a gadget belonging to Helen Buluma, prime state witness in the fuel contracts case.
Kambala, Aford President Enoch Chihana and former State House Advisor Chris Chaima failed to inspect Buluma’s gadget on 24 January 2022 as ordered by the Court since there were misunderstandings between the two parties in the case.
And after hearing from the two parties on 6 February, Chirwa has directed that the defense do inspect the said gadget at ACB premises from Monday 14th February to 16th February 2021.
He has further directed that the inspection shall be limited to the WhatsApp conversation purported to have been had between Buluma and the concerned accused persons.
Each of the accused person’s inspection teams have been told not to have more than 3 persons including IT experts and the same applies to the State.
An IT officer from the court and a clerk are also to be present to observe the conduct of the inspection process.
Buluma has also been allowed to be present for limited purposes such as granting password of the gadget if need be.
“No IT expert shall be allowed to tamper with the gadget, and, for the avoidance of doubt, they shall not be allowed to enter into the operating system of the gadget.” Reads part of the Ruling.
In the case where Kambala and the two others are accused of tampering with the Awarding of fuel contracts, Buluma told the Court that she has WhatsApp messages where Kambala was telling her to award contracts to Finergy company and other two companies.
