I was chained, Msukwa says

Former minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa on Monday told the High Court of Malawi that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested him outside a hospital, took him to his sick bed and chained him to a drip stand.

Responding to questions from ACB chief legal and prosecutions officer Victor Chiwala in the High Court in Lilongwe in a case where he is seeking a judicial review of his arrest and detention, the former minister said the ACB violated his rights.

He said the handcuffs were later removed from the who wanted to examine him at Partners In Hope Hospital requested the ACB investigators to do so.hospital bed after a medical doctor

Msukwa said: “I disembarked on my own from my counsel’s vehicle at Partners in Hope Hospital and I was arrested at the front door.

“I was wheeled inside while in handcuffs and was chained to a drip stand before the cuffs were removed upon request of the doctor who wanted to examine me.”

Earlier, the former minister narrated how he had moved from one health facility to the next in search of treatment, saying he had not been feeling well and suspected that his blood pressure had shot up.

Msukwa said his first point of call was Discovery Clinic in Lilongwe where he was treated as an outpatient, but was also prescribed a bed rest. Thereafter, he went to Masm Clinic for a second opinion, but could not be examined as there was a long queue of patients, he told the court.

He said he returned to Discovery Clinic where he was given some medication before being referred to Partners In Hope where he was arrested.

One of the lawyers representing Msukwa, who also testified, Lughano Mabutwa, claimed that during the whole time Msukwa was moving from one health facility to the next, he informed ACB officers of his whereabouts.

But an ACB witness in the case, Isaac Nkhoma, told the court that Msukwa was evading arrest and was feigning illness.

During cross-examination, Msukwa could also not give a direct answer when asked to provide the time he signed documents for judicial review on December 31 2021, the day he was scheduled to appear at ACB offices in Lilongwe.

He said: “I signed the documents in the morning, but I cannot recall the exact time. Things happened so fast on this day so if the court could give me some time to recollect.”

However, Chiwala pressed on, saying: “Did you understand and read properly what you were signing or you were in a state that you could not remember or perhaps you were already at Discovery Clinic at the time?”

Another lawyer representing Msukwa, Chimwemwe Kalua, also took to task the ACB witness on how the bureau obtained information about his client’s involvement in the charges levelled against him.

In response, Nkhoma said that an investigator from United Kingdom’s National Crimes Agency (NCA) personally came to Malawi to share the information.

The witness also told the court that ACB signed an agreement with NCA between July and October 2021 to be sharing such information relating to corruption and bribery.

Meanwhile, both parties are expected to file written submissions by Friday this week before presiding Judge Redson Kapindu sets a date of judgement.