State wants Kasambara disqualified

The State yesterday asked the High Court in Lilongwe to disqualify private practice lawyer and senior counsel (SC) Ralph Kasambara from representing Cashgate suspects on grounds that he is either a suspect or witness in the cases.

Filing the application, Kamudoni Nyasulu, the hired chief Cashgate prosecutor, cited examples where Kasambara, a former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, is either a witness or a suspect; hence, not fit to represent any one.

Reads the document filed in court: “[Mr] Kasambara represented [businessperson and politician] Osward Lutepo in transactions connected to the cases of fraud in the government between 2012 and 2013. Both Kasambara and Osward Lutepo are answering charges of fraud involving funds in government between 2012 and 2013.

“Evidence also shows that both Kasambara and Osward Lutepo were members of a syndicate in the frauds involving funds from government between 2012 and 2013.”

Nyasulu further alleges that there is not only potential for conflict, but actual conflict of interest between Kasambara and defendants in cases involving fraud in government between 2012 and 2013.

Kasambara, who is representing Caroline Savala in Cashgate trials, was found with a case to answer in the shooting and attempted murder of former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe on September 13 2013.

Mphwiyo’s shooting incident is believed to have opened a can of worms that led to revelations of the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill termed Cashgate through payments for inflated invoices and goods or services not rendered.

Nyasulu’s application comes against a background of a query by South Africa-based Malawian professor of law at University of Cape Town, Danwood Chirwa, who faulted Malawi Law Society (MLS) for failing to uphold the legal profession that respects minimum standards of integrity and ethical behaviour by letting lawyers answering criminal charges to continue representing clients in court.

But MLS president John Suzi-Banda, then serving as the body’s treasurer, said everyone, including lawyers, has a right to a fair trial; hence, MLS could not stop citizens who willingly engage lawyers who are answering criminal charges as their legal counsel.

Earlier, presiding judge Michael Mtambo refused to recuse himself from the case as per Kasambara’s application. The judge said he will remain impartial.

Kasambara has since filed an application to appeal the decision in the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal.