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Court releases Batatawala on bail

The Blantyre Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court has released on bail businessperson Abdul Karim Batatawala who was arrested last Wednesday on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the Malawi Government in a procurement transaction.

Delivering the ruling on Tuesday, senior resident magistrate Martin Chipofya said the court held the view that with the right bail conditions, Batatawala will not jump bail as feared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Batatawala (R) speaks with his lawyer Nampota (C) as former minister of Justice Henry Phoya looks on

The magistrate was apparently reacting to a submission by the ACB which objected to Batatawala’s bail application filed last Friday and asked the court to remand the suspect to Chichiri Prison in Blantyre until his trial starts.

The ACB said Batatawala was uncooperative in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services procurement case.

But Chipofya granted Batatawala bail on condition that he paid a cash-bond of K800 000 and produce a surety of K2.5 million non-cash bond.

The magistrate also ordered the suspect to be reporting to ACB offices on fortnightly on Friday’s besides surrendering his Malawi passport and other travelling documents.

Said Chipofya: “On top of that, the accused must also cooperate with the ACB and must not interfere with evidence or witnesses.

“He must not leave Blantyre without ACB knowledge and when he wants to seek medical attention outside the country, the ACB must be involved by engaging independent medical person to examine his condition.”

During the bail hearing on Monday, lawyer representing ACB, Golda Rapozo, told the court that the graft-busting body believed that Batatawala is a flight risk if granted bail.

She said the businessperson, unlike his co-accused, was playing tricks since his arrest on Wednesday to avoid being cautioned.

Rapozo further told the court that the ACB found an independent medical doctor from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital who dispatched an ambulance to transfer Batatawala to the country’s major referral hospital, but medical doctors at Shifa Private Hospital in Blantyre where he was admitted to, refused to release him, saying he was critically ill. Batatawala was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, a day after his arrest.

But Batatawala’s lawyer Alex Nampota asked the court to release his client on bail, dismissing Rapozo’s arguments that his client was a flight risk. He told the court that his client has been cooperative with ACB, and has businesses in Malawi and that he has never shown interest to leave the country.

In an interview after the ruling, Rapozo accepted the court’s decision, saying the ACB will proceed preparing for the trial.

In a separate interview, Nampota expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision to release his client on bail saying justice has been done.

He said: “Our client was not the one who should have been detained all this long. When he learnt that ACB wanted him, he surrendered himself. Unfortunately illness crippled in between.”

Meanwhile, the court has adjourned the matter to January 20 2022 when Batatawala and his three co-accused are expected to take plea.

Batatawala was arrested last Wednesday alongside three co-accused of conspiracy to defraud by inflating the market price of 500 lockers procured by the Immigration Department from Africa Commercial Agency under contract number IM/01/85 dated March 22 2010 valued at K2 950 560 per unit price totalling K1 475 280 000.

Batatawala’s co-accused were released on bail last Friday. They are former Department of Immigration and Citizenship Service chief immigration officer Elvis Thodi, the department’s commissioner responsible for operations Fletcher Nyirenda and deputy director Limbani Chawinga.

At the time of the alleged crime d between 2009 and 2012, Nyirenda was head of research and planning while Chawinga was deputy head of research and planning.

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