ACB makes u-turn In Chaponda case
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has made a U-turn on its earlier plan to consolidate charges and transfer to Lilongwe the case involving former Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda and two others.
In an interview in reaction to a court order lawyers for Chaponda and his co-accused Rashid Tayub of Transglobe Produce Limited obtained an order restricting the State from filing an application to consolidate the Maizegate case, ACB deputy director Reyneck Matemba yesterday said the bureau’s failure to file the application was a deliberate plan.
He said: “It is not that we failed to comply. It was by design because we filed a notice withdrawing our intention to apply to transfer the case to Lilongwe.
“So, basically, there will be no consolidation and no transfer, we will handle the case separately… one [accused person] in Lilongwe and two in Blantyre.”
Matemba, who is also the lead prosecutor in the case, said the bureau realised that proceeding with the preliminary issues would waste a lot of time and unnecessarily drag the case.
He said: “We don’t want to delay the case. We also believe that even if we proceed that way, our case will not be prejudiced.”
Chaponda and Tayub’s lawyers obtained the order following failure by the State, represented by the ACB, to make a formal application to the court for consolidation and also serve the defence team with the same by August 31 2017.
The case, which relates to suspected dubious procurement of maize from Zambia, has two separate files—one in Blantyre and the other in Lilongwe—which ACB wanted consolidated and the matter transferred to Lilongwe.
According to the Certificate of Non-Compliance which The Nation has seen, the defence argued that ACB’s failure to comply meant that unless otherwise directed by the court, it had lost the right to file the application for consolidation.
“Consequently, the ACB must commence prosecution/trial on the next date of hearing i.e. September 14 2017,” reads part of the certificate dated September 6 2017.
Chaponda, Tayub and Grace Mijiga-Mhango, a businessperson and chairperson of the Grain Traders and Processors Association of Malawi (GTPA), were arrested by the ACB for their alleged suspicious roles in the deal.
The ACB has indicated that it has lined up 22 witnesses to testify in the matter which is coming again on September 14, 2017 before Blantyre chief resident magistrate (CRM) Simeon Mdeza. n
