JB seeks judicial review

Estranged immediate-past president Joyce Banda has through her lawyers applied to the High Court in Blantyre for a judicial review in which she would be asking the court to quash a warrant of arrest issued against her.

Banda, who has been outside the country since she lost the presidency in the May 2014 Tripartite Elections, argues in the affidavits that the purported warrant of arrest was issued when there was less drastic mode of securing her presence by simply issuing summons for her attendance.

Authorities are after Banda for her alleged involvement in the plunder of public funds at Capital Hill, infamously dubbed Cashgate. But the former president denies the allegations, she accuses the current administration of persecuting her.

Malawi Police Service (MPS) on July 31 2017 announced it had secured a warrant of arrest for Banda in February 2017 and that it had alerted Interpol [International Police] to help to bring her back home to answer the charges.

The court is set to hear arguments from both Banda’s lawyers and government on September 20, before determining whether to nullify the warrant of arrest.

Bright Theu, one of Banda’s lawyers, argues in the application Nation on Sunday has seen that decisions of the magistrate court that issued the warrant and the Inspector General (IG) of Police are disproportionate and unreasonable.

Theu argues that the execution of the warrant would constitute an unjustifiable infringement the former president’s fundamental right to liberty and security of her person guaranteed under Section 18 of the Constitution.

Banda, through her lawyers, is asking the court to declare the decisions disproportionate, unreasonable, unjustifiable and violation of her rights.

Banda also wants the High Court to declare the magistrate and police’s refusal to provide a copy of the warrant and the information about the court that issued it as a violation of her right to information.

The information required, according to Theu, would have enabled Banda to exercise her rights, which include the right to legal representation and the right to make an application to challenge the warrant of arrest.

If the leave to apply for judicial review is granted, Banda asks the court to grant a stay if the “impugned decisions” and warrant of the arrest until the determination of the application or further order of the court.

Theu prays that his client be dealt with according to the law on the purported charges relating to abuse of office and money laundering, complaining no attempt to employ the means was made prior to procuring and issuing the warrant of arrest.

The lawyers say they have made strenuous effort to obtain a copy of the warrant of arrest, but the authorities have either ignored or refused or otherwise failed to furnish them with a copy of the same.

People’s Party (PP) acting president Uladi Mussa in an earlier interview said the party was not aware of the existence of the arrest warrant against their leader.

Mussa feared the development could be motivated by something else other than Banda’s involvement in Cashgate.

Police said in the statement it issued: “The Malawi Police Service wishes to inform Malawians that its Fiscal and Fraud Section conducted some investigations on the suspected involvement of the former President in Cashgate cases and unearthed credible evidence.

“The evidence gathered raises reasonable suspicion that the former president committed offences relating to abuse of office and money laundering.”

Banda rose to power after the death of president Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012. Her PP administration only ruled Malawi for two years and its reign ended after Democratic Progressive Party candidate, Peter Mutharika, defeated her in the May 2014 elections.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has secured a number of convictions in the Cashgate cases and some convicts have in the process named Banda to have played a role in the plunder of the public funds.