Mussa, Munthali appeal fails to start
The High Court in Lilongwe yesterday adjourned to June 6 2023 hearing of a bail pending appeal application by former minister Henry Mussa and former director of Information Gedion Munthali, who are serving five and six-year jail terms respectively.
The two, who were not in court, were sentenced in March this year and are appealing both their convictions and sentences.
They were convicted in October 2022 for conspiracy to commit a felony, theft by public servants and receiving stolen items.
The court which met in chambers adjourned the matter following a plea by the defence that they received affidavits from the State late and needed more time to respond.
In an interview outside the court, one of the defence lawyers, Chrispin Mndala, said: “We were served responses by the State very late just as we were about to get into court, so we have sought an adjournment of the hearing of the bail applications so that we can take a look at the issues the State is raising so that we can also profile our responses or reply.”
On his part, senior State advocate from the Director of Public Prosecutions chambers Dziko Malunda indicated that the court has also set June 20, 2023 to separately hear the application for appeal.
Said Malunda: “The defence is saying that before the appeal is heard the convicts should be released on bail because it is their argument that their appeals are likely to be successful so they need to be released forthwith and attend to hearing of the appeal later on.”
The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court convicted the two after finding them guilty of stealing 10 computers and a stand-by generator donated to the Ministry of Information by Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority.
Mussa and Munthali were arrested in September 2020 for diverting the donation for their personal use. Police recovered some of the items from them.
