Manondo ‘unfit to stand trial’
Businessperson Pika Manondo who is the one of the suspects in the attempted murder of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo and is also accused of laundering $184 500 (about K75 million) is unfit to go on trial, his lawyer has argued.
Manondo has been in custody since November 2013 answering various charges, among them conspiracy to commit murder linked to the shooting of Mphwiyo alongside his lawyer Ralph Kasambara and three others.
He is also Kasambara’s co-accused in the money laundering case in which the lawyer’s firm is said to have processed a K55 million (US$135 135) cheque from Manondo in the purchase of a house.
But hearing of his money laundering case failed to start at the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday due to his illness and absence of his lawyer Kasambara who had a case at the commercial court
Lawyer Wapona Kita standing-in for Kasambara said Manondo was poorly after “he was diagnosed with high BP.”
Kita said Manondo had not received medical attention.
Senior resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa adjourned the case to April 16 to allow the State seek medical treatment for Manondo.
Manondo has since applied to the Supreme Court of Appeal for bail after the High Court in Lilongwe refused to release him because he was a flight risk.
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