Judge Mtambo set Jan 29 to end Mphwiyo shooting case trial

Lilongwe High Court Judge Michael Ntambo said on Thursday  that he expects the trial of the on going attempted murder case of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo to be concluded during the next court session, which will be from January 27-29 2016.

High Court Judge Michael Mtambo: Presiding the case
High Court Judge Michael Mtambo: Presiding the case

Lawyer and former Minister of Justice Ralph Kasambala , businessman Pika Manondo and Macdonald Kumwembe are answering attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murders on Mphwiyo.

“The arrangement will be that [cashgate prisoner] Osward Lutepo will be the first to testify then the second accused (Pika Manondo) will enter defence and after that the other witnesses will come in,” said Mtambo.

“We should keep time when cross examining and it should be straight to the point because am here to preside over a case of who shot Mphwiyo and not any other,” said Judge Ntambo.

Mphwiyo’s  shooting on 13 September 2013 led to the unravelling of the systematic looting of millions of government money dubbed ‘cashgate’.

In the shooting trial witnesses have revealed information relating to  cashgate, Malawi’s worst financial scandal in its 50 years as an independent country.

Earlier, two witnesses, Chief Secretary George Mkondiwa and Reserve Bank of Malawi Director for the Banking and Currency Management Department Mercy Kumbatira testified.

The court had expected seasoned politician Brown Mpinganjira to testify before the others but he was excused to the January 27 session because he received the court summon late.

However, the first accused, Kumwembe dropped former Secretary to the Treasury Radson Mwadiwa as his witness.

The case has been adjourned to January 27 and it will run for three days.

Forensic auditors from British audit firm, Baker Tilly, established that under the administration of Joyce Banda, about K24 billion was looted at Capital Hill between April and September 2013 through inflated invoices and payments for goods and services not provided to government.

In 2015, a financial analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also established that about K577 billion in public funds could not be reconciliated between 2009 and December 2014 owing to abuse of the central payment system, Integrated Financial Management Information System .

Western donor nations and agencies, which provide 40% of Malawi’s budget, froze vital aid in reaction to the scandal.

 

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Kingman
Kingman
8 years ago

Sorry 4 that but a malawi muli ndi vuto pliz can both of u,u coment on this matter mupange cross check the witness that gvt bring & both accused bring then u c were the matter is going.osati umbuli omangopanga coment china chilichose guyz amalawi bwanji simunasithe kodi.mtambo says am here to preceding the case that who shoot mphwiyo not ndinapita ku salima or amandimenya apolice umenewo siyumboni ai

Nyika justice
Nyika justice
8 years ago

I have a different picture .An acquittal is coming .so far, the accussed have a very good defe nce in court. Keep it up Ralph !!

Zanga Phee!
Zanga Phee!
8 years ago

Days are numbered corruption can not be done to the whole country only the vibrant ones,in this case Mr Kasambara it seems doors are closed now to corrupt anybody any more. obviously Judgement follows behind bars for years.If Kasambala given more time he will confuse all the witness and the chances of wining the case can be high you can see how he is handling himself.When he start rotting jail he will then review who else involved in this blame game.See my name.

Legal mindset
Legal mindset
8 years ago

Whether the accussed are actual culprits in the legal bone of contention at hand, or not, is an issue I can not evidently assert this far. However, one thing comes out clearly which is that the prosecution has failed to prove that the accused persons conspired and/or attempted to kill this boy named Phwiyo. CASE DISMISSED. What6 worries me most though is that our impoverished nation’s state coffers will once more be drained, before our naked eyes, to compesate a bunch of people for unlawful custody, loss of earnings, character assasination (defamation) and any related legal counter arguments that will… Read more »

Mohammed Khalif
Mohammed Khalif
8 years ago

Mess around with kasambala,we know your bearing both longitude and latitude.expect the worst if you don’t abide by the law.

Stata Analyst
Stata Analyst
8 years ago

“Am here to preside over a case of who shot Mphwiyo, and not any other” – Judge Mtambo. What then is the relevance of Daniel Jenya’s evidence in this trial? Well it’s bn accepted anyway. From Dan’s evidence, Mphwiyo’s reign as budget director was correlated with a steep rise in treasury expenditure. Is this FULLY in line with the Baker Tilly Report??????

Alungwana
Alungwana
8 years ago

Im just afraid that Mtambo is already having a judgement even if Kasambara may truly defend himself. Mtambo is a judge of grudges.

levi nyirongo
8 years ago

enough is enough! what goes around comes around.kasambara I want to let u know that this so called brain’ at times fails.if it were hard drive I would say trojan horse mounted it.u have papers and our stolen moneys in your account! its time to be smoked out! hahahaha!!!

Uncle Val
Uncle Val
8 years ago

following with keen interest….let the truth come out

Kingman
Kingman
8 years ago

Kasambala ali ndimulandu oti ayakhe.

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