Malawi ‘spy chief’ guilty over K34mil fraud: Court orders Thodi to repay MP Navicha

High Court has found guilty the director general of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) Elvis Thodi over fraud-related charges , according to published reports on Wednesday.

Thodi has been ordered to pay a woman he defrauded the sum of K34 million at a compound interest of 5 percent from August 12 2014.

Malawi’s flagship daily newspaper reported that High Court Judge John Katsala made a determination on September 13 2017 that Thodi was guilty of  defrauding Thyolo-Thava Member of Parliament (MP) Mary Navicha of K28.5 million in 2014.

In August 2014, the details of the case indicate, Thodi persuaded Navicha to go into a business deal involving the supply of beans to a company in Botswana called Devot and that the spy chief has an entity called Classic Holdings Limited that would inject K78 million into the venture and that upon the sale of the beans he would pay the MP her share of the proceeds through letters of credit he had secured.

Based on Thodi’s assurances, Navicha invested K28.5 million into the business.

But later Thodi claimed  the Botswana company rejected the beans and that letters of credit were not given to Navicha.

Justice Katsala, according to the ruling, pointed out that Navicha  proved her case against Thodi in a Commercial Cause Number 197 of 2015.

Thodi is the first defendant, while Classic Holdings Limited in the second re and AHL Commodities Exchange is a third defendant.

“Looking at the deceit, dishonesty fraud and bad faith which the defendants  [Thodi] have displayed, and perpetrated on the deal, it is clear that the partnership could not subsist and was terminated,” reads the judgement as quoted in the paper.

The court has  since learned AHL Commodities Exchange  Limited from the fraud charges over the beans which were supplied

“There is no evidence that the beans were infested with weevils and were rejected by Devot or that they were declared unfit for human consumption. As already found by this court in this judgement, the story about weevils and rejection of the beans is a fabrication by the first defendant [Thodi] with the intention of defrauding the plaintiff [Navicha] of her money,” reads the ruling.

An interesting aspect in the judgment reads: “Months went by without hearing anything from the first defendant on the progress of the case against the third party. Upon being pressed, the first defendant lied that his lawyer, Mr (Frank) Mbeta, had left the country for the United Kingdom for his graduation before filing the case in court. When asked to instruct another lawyer, he refused, saying that he could only use counsel Mbeta because he knows how to bribe judges in order to win cases.”

The ruling indicates that lawyer Mbeta is expert in judge shopping. There were similar allegations involving Mbeta in the Khato case on Lake Malawi water project against Malawi Law Society.

Thodi is former chief Immigration officer who was appointed director general of the State spy agency replacing Nicholas Dausi who was drafted into President Peter Mutharika’s Cabinet as the official government spokesperson in his capacity as Minister of Information and Communications Tehcnology.

Before being appoint chief syp, Thodi was serving as head of administration at public tax collector Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

Thodi has previously worked as director of research at the National Police Headquarters before former president Bingu wa Mutharika hired him as chief immigration officer.

He left the Immigration Department in August 2012 after the Joyce Banda administration did not renew his contract. Instead, he was deployed to MRA as head of administration.

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