Mphwiyo, 15 others plead not guilty in K2.4bn Cashgate
Stanley Mtambo, one of the accused persons in the K2.4 billion Cashgate also involving former budget director Paul Mphwiyo, yesterday pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge and was subsequently convicted by the High Court in Lilongwe.
Mphwiyo and 15 others pleaded not guilty to related charges while two other accused persons were once again absent from court, forcing their plea taking to be deferred to January next year when the court resumes sitting.
Mtambo, who pleaded guilty to money laundering in relation to payments worth K78 million to his company, now faces a 10-year maximum jail sentence.
However, the convict opted to start his sentence immediately despite the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale asking the court to put on hold proceedings into the sentencing of Mtambo until all the accused persons were sentenced in what is expected to be a lengthy trial.
Kachale said the move would allow the court to mete out a lenient sentence to Mtambo, proportionate to the cooperation he rendered to investigating agencies and his decision to plead guilty early in the trial.
“Some of the details of how he cooperated with law enforcement [agencies] have just come to me and I need to consult on what appropriate sentence we should be seeking as the State,” she said.
The DPP earlier told the court that while Mtambo had insisted that he was innocent of any wrongdoing in initial statements to investigators, the businessperson later conceded to investigators and prosecutors about his role in the fraudulent transactions.
Mtambo further revealed details of how he helped another Cashgate convict Leonard Kalonga who masterminded payments from government through several contractors, Kachale told the court.
Among others, Mtambo notified police about the possible availability of CCTV footage from Nedbank where his company, Walusako General Dealers, had an account and Kalonga and Mtambo had gone on one occasion to withdraw millions of cash “stashed in bags”.
The DPP told journalists outside court that the businessperson agreed with the State to drop one charge of illegally renting out his licence to Kalonga while accepting the money laundering charge.
“We hope [to] look at his actions as a benchmark in sentencing the others; we want him to receive a lenient sentence,” added Kachale.
According to Kachale, the State would like to encourage more suspects to bring forward more information that would help in investigations and shorten trials.
During their court appearance yesterday, Mphwiyo, former accountant general David Kandoje and one Auzius Kazombo-Mwale and convicted civil servant Maxwell Namata denied various counts, including conspiracy to defraud, theft by a public servant, theft by a servant, negligence and money laundering, among others.
Others who pleaded not guilty to related charges were Steven Phiri, George Banda, Michael Mphatso, Samuel Mzanda, Andrews Chilalika, Clemence Madzi, Rosevelt Ndovi, businessperosn Stanford Mpoola, Fatch Chungano, Cecilia Ng’ambi, Gerald Magaleta Phiri and Ndaona Satema.
Businessperson Limumba Karim and another suspect Sympathy Chisale were not in court with their respective lawyers as Karim was reportedly stuck in Mozambique while Chisale fell sick and was rushed to South Africa for treatment.
Meanwhile, after long deliberations, the court agreed to meet in a series of five-day sessions every month from January next year. n
