Witness says Bushiri’s not involved in R106m theft
A South African State witness in the extradition case involving Enlightened Christian Gathering leader Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary yesterday admitted that an audit report by KPMG shows that the Bushiris did not benefit from the R106 million they are accused of stealing.
The witness Sibongile Mnzinyathi, who is also Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Gauteng Province, made the admission during cross examination by defence lawyer Wapona Kita at the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe.
Kita informed the court that the audit which was conducted in March 2023 cleared the Bushiris of laundering the money.
According to the report findings, Kita said a company called Rising Estate Limited was behind the alleged scheme.
Said Kita: “The Bushiris are not shareholders of this company or directors. If anything if the Bushiris church was used in the scheme then they are also victims.”
During cross-examination, he also demonstrated to the court that out of 13 offences that the Bushiris are being accused of, only three namely forgery, rape and are extraditable.
Kita added that there is also no relevance as per Section 5 of the Extradition Act of Malawi that the three offences constitute an offence in both countries and, therefore, automatically fall off.
The offences which the Bushiris are accused of but are not listed in the extradition schedule are money laundering, racketeering, failing to comply with bail conditions, failing to comply with requirements of Immigration Act and contravening the Immigration Act.
Others are causing injury, calling someone a wizard, contravening of company’s Act, injuring a person’s dignity and fraud.
Said Kita: “Am I right to say that the evidence for the three offences doesn’t satisfy the requirements to have the offenders extradited” to which the witness said: “I agree”.
Among others, he said that the Malawi Extradition Act is modelled on the old British law of 1972 which requires that evidence be brought together with the extradition request, adding the State did not bring any evidence but only a witness.
The defence is expected to continue cross-examining the witness today.
