Bingu estate in jeopardy
The administrators of the K61 billion (about $152m) deceased estate for former president Bingu wa Mutharika have asked the High Court in Blantyre to unfreeze his bank accounts. The administrators argue that the decision has put operations of the estate and related trusts in jeopardy.
Administrators of the estate are lawyers Kalekeni Kaphale and Modecai Msisha representing Mutharika’s daughters, Duwa and Tapiwa; and James Tomoka for former first lady Callista.
In their summons to set aside an order of attachment and injunction, the administrators state that the trusts created by Mutharika and other business operations require regular sums of money for their maintenance, staff salaries and other operational expenses.
Court documents show that arrears for the months of June were in excess of K50 million (about $125 000).
Documents filed by legal firm Kalekeni Kaphale Lawyers read in part: “No consideration was given to the welfare of persons employed by the estate or trusts established by the deceased who required to have their employment rights respected.”
High Court Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu failed to hear the application on Monday because one of the lawyers for the Estate Duty Commissioners, Dr Zolomphi Nkowani, had an appointment with a medical doctor.
The matter has been set for hearing this Thursday.
In the summons, the administrators argue that the Estate Duty Commissioner obtained a court order in Zomba on June 26 without full disclosure of the facts to the court.
The administrators also claim that there was no legal basis for the order as no estate duty had been properly or validly assessed and communicated to the estate for acceptance or challenge.
The administrators also contend that any alleged attempts to transfer funds from Malawi to an external destination would not have occurred without the exchange control approval.
Further, the administrators declare that the district registry in Zomba had no competence to receive a probate or issue the said order.
This case commenced in Zomba where government, through the Estate Duty Commissioner, is claiming a K5 billion (about $12.5m) estate duty cut from Mutharika’s estate.
Earlier, private practice lawyer Lusungu Gondwe, representing the Estate Duty Commissioners, asked Mwaungulu to discharge an order obtained by the Mutharika estate administrators to have the matter transferred to Blantyre from Zomba.
The transfer order was granted ex parte after one of the lawyers representing the estate administrators, Msisha, argued before Mwaungulu that moving the matter to Blantyre was going to be cost-effective because lawyers representing both parties in the matter are based in Blantyre.
However, Gondwe, argued that the cost of litigating the matter in the Zomba District Registry, about 65 kilometres away from Blantyre, could not be prohibitive and neither would it occasion undue hardship to the defendants (the Mutharika family) who he said have retained five legal firms to represent them.
