Msukwa’s case 2 years in limbo

The corruption case involving former minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa has entered second year without a date to start the hearing.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary has downplayed the delays, citing a backlog of other cases as the reason.

Msukwa, along with businessperson Ashok Nair, was arrested in December 2021 on corruption allegations related to land deals with United Kingdom-based businessperson Zuneth Sattar.

In June 2022, Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Frank Kapanda granted a stay order, preventing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from initiating criminal proceedings against Msukwa. The stay was pending the appeal of the application for leave of judicial review of the arrest of the two.

In an interview on Thursday, High Court of Malawi and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal (MSCA) registrar Kondwani Banda explained that the case was brought to the Supreme Court of Appeal last year.

Said Banda: “At the time there were already scheduled matters in Lilongwe which, due to funding challenges, could not be done. As such the priority was on those cases on the prior schedule.”

He added that once the other matters are done, the case will follow.

While Banda did not specify the number of pending cases, Msukwa’s case was notably absent from the fixed cause list of the Supreme Court of Appeal for the January to April 2023 session.

ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala in an earlier interview confirmed that the graft-busting body has been waiting for a date and a judge assignment for Msukwa’s case.

The allegations against Msukwa involve facilitating illegal land sales to Sattar during his tenure as Minister of Lands.

The criminal proceedings against Msukwa were stayed primarily because the ACB obtained evidence from the United Kingdom’s National Crimes Agency (NCA) illegally.

Among others, the Supreme Court observed that the Notice of Appeal lodged by Msukwa and Nair raised serious issues of law that need to be attended to by the Supreme Court.

Last year, Malawi Law Society (MLS) president Patrick Mpaka told the society’s annual general meeting in Mangochi that when an MLS-Judiciary special task force started engaging judges at the High Court’s Commercial Division over delayed cases, the Judiciary protested and described MLS’ move as “interference with the independence of the Judiciary”.

ACB is prosecuting several other Sattar-related cases, including that of ACB former director general Reyneck Matemba, former Inspector General of Police George Kainja and former Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets chairpersonJohn Suzi Banda.

An audit Office audit report for the year ending June 30 2021 that the National Audit Office submitted to Parliament, censured the Judiciary for the backlog of 87 cases dating back to 2012.

According to the report, the delays to execute justice are contrary to provisions under Section 42 of the Constitution which states that every person arrested for or accused of an offence, in addition to the rights they have, has the right to public trial within a reasonable time.

Reads the report: “Inspection of the case register disclosed that eighty-seven [87] cases dating from August 2012 were still outstanding as at the date of audit contrary to constitutional provision cited above.”

While funding for the Judiciary is an issue, the audit report has also revealed gaps in the management of resources within this arm of government.

As of 2019, about 6 766 people seeking justice through the Industrial Relations Court were yet to know their fate in cases, some dating back to 1999.