Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Masauko Chamkakala has expressed concern about delays to start trial in the K5 billion cement imports case where three people are accused of abusing former president Peter Mutharika’s duty-free privileges.
He expressed his frustration in the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe yesterday after it emerged that two of the defendants as well as their lawyer were not available.
Said Chamkakala: “The State is ready and some of the witnesses are ready and are within the court. How can we continue to wait for a trial date for one and a half years?”
In the case, Mutharika’s former personal bodyguard Norman Chisale, former director of State Residences Peter Mukhito and former Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Roza Mbilizi are accused of abusing the former president’s taxpayer identification number (TPIN) to import cement worth K5 billion duty free.
The accused persons were arrested in 2020 and they took plea mid last year.
However, since taking plea, the case has dragged for one and a half years without trial starting.
When the court convened yesterday, Chisale and Mbilizi as well as their lawyer Fostino Maere were not in court.
It was only Mukhito who availed himself accompanied by his lawyer Mercy Chijere.
Chijere told the court that there was communication breakdown regarding dates for trial.
She said Maere thought the case would start on December 19 and run to December 20 after the State and the defence held discussions to have the matter adjourned.
Presiding Judge Chimbizgani Kacheche expressed concern with the development, saying he had put much effort into having the trial begin.
He has since set March 4 2025 as the new date for begining of trial and the sitting is expected to run up to March 7 2025.
The accused are facing charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit customs offences, smuggling, aiding and abetting smuggling, uttering false documents, fraudulent evasion of value added tax, abuse of office, omitting from a return of income in respect to year of assessment and money laundering
