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K16.8m NFRA fraud case starts
By
Joseph Langa - 27-05-2003 |
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The Magistrate’s court in Lilongwe will Wednesday start hearing a case in which a
European Union accountant attached to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) Mathews Mlenga is accused of fraudulently obtaining K16.8 million from the agency.
Lawyer for the accused, Rodrick Makono, and principal state advocate Pacharo Kayira confirmed the development on Tuesday.
Mlenga is accused of obtaining K16.8 million from a K400 million strategic grain reserve project jointly with NFRA marketing and research officer Charles Moses, according to a letter from NFRA to the ministry of Agriculture. Moses is still at large.
The letter indicates that two payments of K8.4 million each were paid to JC investments and MHM enterprises using personal bank accounts of Moses and Mlenga respectively. The letter described this as fraudulent payments against fictitious accounts.
Mlenga first appeared before the court on September 18 last year where he pleaded not guilty to all the three charges of conspiracy to commit a felony, fraudulent false accounting and theft by servant, according Makono and Kayira.
Kayira, who disclosed that the state has lined up 11 witnesses to prove Mlenga guilty, said the accused was released on bail last October after paying K25,000 cash bail bond and two sureties of K10,000 cash each.
Mlenga was also told not to leave Lilongwe without the permission of the officer in charge for fiscal police at police headquarters in Lilongwe.
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