Court sets dates for cashgate cases

The Judiciary has set dates between January and April 2014 on which government should start prosecution of all cases related to cashgate, Nation on Sunday has learnt.
High Court registrar Joseph Chigona confirmed in an interview on Friday that the court has drafted a tentative programme to facilitate speedy prosecution of cashgate cases.
“As a court we have given the slots for the speedy prosecution of the cash-gate cases. It will all depend on how ready is the DPP [Director of Public Prosecution],” he said.
Chigona said the court hopes that the DPP would be ready with the cases within the specified period.
He added that should there be any changes to the schedule the court will discuss them with the DPP.
Public information indicates that around 100 cases are expected to be taken to court on cashgate alone within the specified time, of which 81 will be handled by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
In a separate interview on Friday, DPP Bruno Kalemba also confirmed the arrangement, saying the courts have allocated time for cashgate cases between January and April 2014.
Kalemba said his office was up for the task and would be taking advantage of the specified period to commence prosecution.
“We were waiting for the courts to give us the dates, now that they have given us the dates we will try to take all the cases to court during the time given,” he said.
Kalemba said the ongoing call log squabbles among Ralph Kasambara, Oswald Lutepo, Paul Mphwiyo, Airtel, TNM and his office will not derail the initial prosecution of the cases.