Kasambara appeal case documents go missing: Case adjourned until after 28 days for lawyers to resolves issues

Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that the appeal case for  former minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ralph Kasambara, Pika Manondo and McDonald Kumwembe is not ready for hearing as there are no skeleton arguments and that some documents are missing in the records of 12 volumes that are before court.

The Supreme Court in Lilongwe was on Wednesday set to start hearing an appeal for conviction of Kasambara, Manondo and Kumwembe who were jailed in 2016 in connection to attempted murder of former budget director Paul Mphwiyo.

The absence of Kumwembe and Manondo  at the appeal hearing also forced the court to order that matter is not ready.

The court has since ordered the parties to resolve the issues raised in the next 28 days.

Kasambara was granted bail on March 14 2018 by Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu after spending a year and seven months in prison.

He was convicted to 13 years for conspiracy to murder  gun-shot survivor Mphwiyo.

In his judgement in 2018, Mwaungulu observed that there seemed to be an apparent contradiction on finding Kasambara not guilty of the attempted murder charge, but finding him guilty of the conspiracy to murder.

Kasambara, who served as minister in the Joyce Banda administration, was jailed by High Court judge Michael Mtambo for conspiracy to murder in a crime linked to a multi-billion kwacha corruption ring christened as Cashgate.

During that trial, Kasambara had made application for judge Mtambo to recuse himself from the case as he feared the judge could make his determination based on a personal vandettta. But Mtambo refused to opt out and went on to convict and jail Kasambara.

Some legal experts say it is clear that Kasambara will be acquitted on appeal and get his professional life back to normal as Senior Councel and one of Malawi’s brilliant legal minds.

Gunshot survivor Mphwiyo is also answering to money laundering charges in relation to Cashgate.