State revives Jumbe, Bwanali k11m case
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has revived a criminal case in which former minister of Finance Friday Jumbe and former minister of Sports Phillip Bwanali were implicated in the theft of K11 million from government through the Sports and Culture Trust Fund.
In 2004, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Jumbe and Bwanali, alongside the then chairperson of the Sports and Culture Trust Fund, Vincent Mpaluko, for the alleged disappearance of the K11 million.
The court found them with a case to answer but they did not start defending themselves.
Jumbe was charged with misuse of office and gross negligence by a public officer for advancing the K11 million to the Ministry of Sports which Bwanali allegedly took and gave to Mpaluko for the purchase of some footballs that were said to have been distributed to United Democratic Front (UDF) candidates in the May 2004 general elections.
Bwanali, who is also a former member of Parliament (MP) for Thyolo North Constituency under UDF, is facing charges of misuse of office, gross negligence by a public officer in preserving money, theft by a public servant, uttering a false document and obtaining money by false pretence.
When the case stalled in 2008, Jumbe and others were found with a case to answer after the prosecution paraded 19 witnesses.
According to court records which The Nation has seen, lawyer for Bwanali and Mpaluko is this Friday expected to make an application to the High Court for an extension of time to file and serve preliminary issues before entering the defence.
According to an affidavit, private practice lawyer Manuel Theu, who is leading the defence team, the accused had only recently agreed that he should be the one to coordinate the filing of documents.
The defence team is also questioning the justification for the High Court to handle the case instead of the chief resident magistrate (CRM) and has asked that in the “wider interests of justice” the court should direct that the case be heard by a competent lower court.
States Theu in his affidavit: “On review of the matter and recent proceedings that took place in the High Court’s open court, the defendants raised a hitherto muted issue [on] the justification of exact capacity in which and the implications of the presiding court herein being a High Court is proceeding to handle the matter which is a lower court matter.”
High Court judge Chifundo Kachale has been asked to continue with the case which he handled in 2008 as a CRM before his appointment as judge.
Jumbe, who contested as a presidential candidate in the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections on the New Labour Party ticket, was previously represented by Kalekeni Kaphale, who is now the Attorney General.
His new lawyer is Blantyre-based Maxwell Tembo.
The offence of theft by public servant carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, according to Section 283 of the Penal Code.
FAST FACTS
–The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2004 arrested politicians Friday Jumbe and Phillip Bwanali alongside the then chairperson of the Sports and Culture Trust Fund, Vincent Mpaluko, for the alleged disappearance of K11 million and the court found them with a case to answer but they did not start defending themselves.
— Jumbe was charged with misuse of office and gross negligence by a public officer for advancing the K11 million to the Ministry of Sports, which Bwanali allegedly took and gave to Mpaluko for the purchase of some footballs that were allegedly distributed to UDF candidates in the May 2004 general election.
