Legal Affairs Committee okays DPP to clear 11 more cases

The Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament has sustained Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Masauko Chamkakala’s discontinuation of 11 more cases dating back to 2023.

This comes after the committee on Tuesday upheld the discontinuation of a corruption case involving Vice-President Saulos Chilima, but recommeded revival of another discontinued case against Paramount Holdings Limited directors.

In an interview on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with the DPP, committee chairperson Peter Dimba said they were satisfied with the reasons that the DPP provided for discontinuing the 11 cases.

He said: “In some of the cases, the suspects were used as State witnesses. Most of the cases did not take long.

“They were simple and straightforward and the reasons were very convincing and that is why the committee sustained the decisions.”

In a separate interview, Chamkakala declined to provide details of the 11 cases, saying they were discontinued for various reasons.

He said his office is mandated to discontinue cases as a mechanism in the law that helps in handling cases.

“If we know that there is a problem, we should have a way out,” he said.

Chamkakala also trashed concerns by civil society organisations that the discontinuation of the cases is frustrating the fight against corruption, saying of the 11 cases that he presented, only one involved corruption while the rest bordered on murder, tax evasion, rape, assault and other criminal activities.

Section 99 (2e and 3) of the Constitution gives powers to the DPP to discontinue any criminal proceedings.