Court revokes Viola’s bail
Former National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) deputy chief executive officer Gerald viola risks arrest following revocation of his bail by the Principal Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe for failing to appear before court for delivery of judgement.
Viola, alongside businessperson Chrispin Chingola, was found with a case to answer in March 2022 on offences under the Corrupt Practices Act and Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.
Yesterday, principal resident magistrate Viva Nyimba was set to deliver judgement but only Chingola was available but his lawyer was also not in court.
Viola and his lawyer were also not present.
The court resolved to revoke Viola’s bail and also to communicate to the parties of the new date for the delivery of judgement.
But in a telephone interview yesterday, Viola’s lawyer Luciano Mickeus indicated that he was going to contest the court’s decision, arguing that the defence team was not served with Notice of Delivery of Judgement.
He said: “My client is not to blame for not being in court because he waits to hear from me as his lawyer, and I did communicate to him yesterday [Sunday] that the hearing will not take place. Let ACB [Anti-Corruption Bureau] produce evidence that the defence was served.”
In a separate interview, ACB chief legal and prosecution officer Victor Chiwala said Viola and his lawyer did not appear before court for reasons known to themselves.
Viola was arrested by ACB in October 2020 allegedly for unilaterally issuing to Missies Trading a Local Purchasing Order (LPO) number 6750 to supply 10 000 metric tonnes of maize to NFRA.
