ACB to amend charge sheet in Batatawala, others case
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed an application to amend the charge sheet in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services procurement contracts case of businessperson Abdul Karim Batatawala and three others.
In an interview yesterday after the court adjourned the matter to October 28, ACB director general Martha Chizuma said the State has added more charges in the case.
She said the State filed and served the proposed amended charge sheet on September 27, but could not disclose details of the new charges.
“This is allowed under Section 151 of the CPEC [Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code],” said Chizuma.
An ACB insider said the charges have jumped from about five to 19 counts.
Batatawala alongside former Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services chief immigration officer Elvis Thodi, commissioner responsible for operations Fletcher Nyirenda and deputy director Limbani Chawinga are answering the first count of conspiracy to defraud by inflating the market price of 500 lockers procured by the Immigration Department.
The quartet is accused of inflating the market price of the lockers sourced from Africa Commercial Agency at K2 950 560 per unit totalling K1 475 280 000.
Batatawala is answering the second count of money laundering, while Thodi, Nyirenda and Chawinga are answering third, fourth and fifth counts of abuse of office, neglecting official duty and aiding money laundering respectively
Thodi is also answering the sixth count of giving false information in a public office.
The four were arrested by ACB in mid-December in relation to suspected corrupt practices in the procurement contracts for uniforms and other accessories at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services between 2009 and 2012.
