The Cementgate case— in which three top officials in the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration are answering charges of abusing then president Peter Mutharika’s tax payer identification number (TPIN) to import cement worth K5 billion duty free— returned to court yesterday with the State presenting its evidence.
The accused are former president Peter Mutharika’s personal bodyguard Norman Chisale, former director of State Residences Peter Mukhito and ex-deputy commissioner general at Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Roza Mbilizi.
MRA deputy director of ICT risk and cyber security Wilson Upindi, who was part of the team that searched Melton Hardware in Lilongwe belonging to Ahmed Muhammad Chunara to investigate a case of tax evasion, was yesterday’s star witness.
Chunara was a suspect in the case, but he later became a State witness.
Upindi’s testimony focussed on how MRA extracted data from Chunara’s phone to help lead in the investigation of tax evasion.
He explained the process from obtaining the search warrant to searching Chunara’s hardware shop, confiscating and securing gadgets, to the extraction of data and identifying pointers to help tax investigators.
However, defence lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale noted that the witness’ testimony was longer than his witness statement and was providing more technical information.
“We would actually also need to consult experts on the information he is providing,” said Kaphale.
Upindi a l so made a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate how MRA conducted data extraction from Chunara’s phones.
As he was explaining about a form used to record information on the case, Kaphale told the court that the defence was not furnished with the said form and questioned if the form was part of the disclosures.
State lawyer, director of criminal litigation Dzikondianthu Malunda, conceded that the document was not among those in court.
He asked the court if the matter could be adjourned for the State to provide the defence with the PowerPoint presentation and other documents that they may need.
However, Kaphale said it was clear that the State was not ready with the case, arguing that the prosecutors should have put together all documents needed and served them.
Another defence lawyer Fostino Maere also said the State needs to provide the defence with all the required documents to avoid objections that would end up disrupting progress of the proceedings.
Judge Chimbizgani Kacheche stated that the document being referred to was not new ev idence, adding it was just being used to help the witness explain the process.
However, he ordered that if there are documents that the witness will present and need to be made available to the defence, they should be provided.
“If there are more witnesses that will make PowerPoint presentations , the State should provide defence with the PowerPoint presentation in advance,” said Kacheche.
Direc tor of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala said the State is serious about prosecuting the matter and will provide the defence with materials they need.
On December 18 2024, Chamkakala expressed concern over delays in the commencement of trial for the case, saying it was affecting administration of justice. His concern came after an adjournment due to the absence in court of two of the accused persons.
The suspects were arrested in 2020 and they took plea mid- 2023. Since then, the case took more than one and a half years without trial commencing.
