The Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court has adjourned to Monday next week sentencing submissions on a case in which former accounts assistant Victor Sithole was found guilty on three counts of money laundering, possession of stolen money and possession of forex without permission from minister.
Senior resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa granted the plea for adjournment from Sithole’s lawyer, Ted Roka, who wrote the court because he was not provided with a copy of the judgement to allow them to make submissions for sentencing.
It remains unclear if Roka will now take over the case from lawyer Necton Mhura who has since been appointed ambassador to United States of America, pending approval by the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament.
Since he was arrested in September last year in what is believed to have started the domino effect of Cashgate, Sithole had the new Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale as his lawyer before another lawyer in his firm, Mercy Muhariwa, took over briefly, then Mhura.
On Monday, lawyers for prosecution and defence are expected to make submissions, imploring the court on what sentence should be meted out to Sithole.
The court also postponed delivering a verdict in a case in which politician and businessperson Wyson Zinyemba Soko is accused of theft and money laundering (K40 million) belonging to government.
On the Zinyemba Soko case, the court communicated to the prosecution and lawyer of the accused that he was not ready with the judgment.
