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| National |
| ACB unable to caution Mvula |
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by
Mc Donald Chapalapata, 05 August 2004
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09:24:50
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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday failed to take a caution statement from Shire Buslines chief executive Humphrey Mvula because the officers handling the case were out to Lilongwe.
Mvula, who was arrested last week on fraud, corruption and tax evasion allegations went to the ACB offices in Blantyre on Wednesday afternoon in the company of his lawyer Viva Nyimba but was told that the officers handling the case were not around.
Nyimba said in an interview later that Chief Investigations Officer Geoff Chikuta told him that he wanted to record a caution statement from Mvula and they agreed to meet at the ACB offices on Wednesday afternoon.
“But when we went there with my client, we were told that the investigating officer has been sent on holiday and that Chikuta was away to Lilongwe. I think these people are not ready with this case. They are making a trial and error to find Mvula guilty. My client is ready to give a statement because he is innocent,” said Nyimba.
Another lawyer representing Mvula, John-Gift Mwakhwawa said ACB could not be ready with the case in the next two weeks.
“If they summon us by Friday this week, we can forgive them and take them on. What they did by arresting Mvula was just flamboyance, just to be seen to be doing something,” said Mwakhwawa.
Nyimba also said the ACB got a warrant of arrest for Mvula on August 2, the day the High Court granted bail to Mvula.
“It is possible that they got the warrant of arrest in the magistrates courts before the High Court granted the bail order because it was signed at around 6 PM. But the warrant of arrest is of no consequence because the High Court granted bail after Mvula had already been arrested on instructions from the DPP,” said Nyimba.
Mvula dismissed speculation that he has run away and that he is hiding at former president Bakili Muluzi’s BCA residence.
“I went for a heart scan at Dr. Kampondeni clinic in Limbe this morning and went into the heart of town at Development House where I had a chat with a few people, including Emmie Chanika, and then went to ACB with my lawyer. Why should I run away?” wondered Mvula.
ACB public relations officer Egrita Ndala and Assistant Director Victor Banda were reported to be out of the country.
However, Chikuta denied in an interview from Lilongwe on Wednesday that the ACB is running away from the Mvula case.
“We are ready to ask him questions but what I know is that doctors have given Mvula five days bed rest and if he is fine, he will come to ACB and we will ask him questions because there are a number of things that we need to ask him,” said Chikuta.
He also said it is not true that the investigating officer of the case is on leave saying “this is a very big case and has several officers on it”.
Chikuta said he went to Lilongwe after he was told that Mvula had been given five days of bed rest.
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