The State has decried delays to start the case in which former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Collins Magalasi and another official are accused of flouting procurement procedures in a K704 million contract.
Magalasi and former Mera procurement officer Bright Mbewe are accused of cutting corners in the award of a procurement contract for a fuel testing van.
The State concluded its case in March 2022 and the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe found the accused with a case to answer in the same year. However, since then, the matter has failed to progress.
Yesterday, the court convened to continue hearing the matter, but the defence sought an adjournment on grounds that the lawyer representing Magalasi was handling another matter in the High Court of Malawi.
Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Austin Banda granted the defence its wish and adjourned the matter to a yet-to-be-set date.
But in an interview yesterday, Directorate of Public Prosecutions director of criminal litigation Dzikondianthu Malunda said the State was disappointed with the stalling of the case since the matter entered defence in 2022.
He said: “The State did its part, the accused were found with a case to answer way back in 2022. So, basically, three years down the line the defence has never paraded any witnesses. The issue has always been that there is one adjournment after another.
“Of course, there was a time when the matter was being handled by Justice Chirwa, he was in Zomba and it was difficult for him to be coming to Lilongwe for the hearings, but since 2022, the defence has never paraded witnesses.”
On the available options, Malunda said one of them is to revoke bail for the suspects but said that would be up to the court to decide.
On his part, defence lawyer Andy Kaonga said it was unfortunate for the State to allege that defence was delaying the case when there have been valid reasons for not commencing defence.
“How could I have attended to the matter when I was having another matter in the High Court? State was clearly informed that we have a matter in the High Court and that is the reason we sought adjournment,” he said.
Kaonga said the defence was committed to ensuring that the case progresses right from beginning and he wondered why the defence was being accused.
Magalasi and Mbewe were arrested in 2020.
