Date Of Article: 1/29/2003
To Print This Story Goto File > Print
<<Back
DPP to prosecute K53m MHC case
By: Aubrey Mchulu
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Fahad Assani said on Tuesday he will personally prosecute a case where Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) was allegedly defrauded K53 million. The DPP’s stand follows a refusal by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) lawyers to handle the case under the Penal Code. ACB deputy director Alexious Nampota, in a written response to an inquiry on Tuesday, said the DPP has refused to give consent for the bureau to prosecute businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala and a former MHC employee a Mr. Simango under the Corrupt Practices Act (CPA) for claiming about K53 million for goods he did not supply. Nampota said the DPP recommended that the businessman be prosecuted for fraud under the Penal Code but lawyers Tembenu, Masumbu and Company, contracted by ACB to handle the case, have told the bureau they are not prepared to prosecute the matter as directed by the DPP. “They would rather prefer that the Director of Public Prosecutions handles the matter [and] we are in the process of liaising with the Director of Public Prosecutions,” said Nampota. In an interview on Tuesday, Assani said if the ACB cannot proceed with the case his office will take it up because the matter is of national interest. The DPP said in another interview on Monday he shared the legal opinion of ACB lawyers, Tembenu, Masumbu and Company, that they cannot prove elements of corruption but can go ahead with fraud. He said Simango received the alleged bribes totalling about K300,000 from Batatawala after he was dismissed from MHC hence the case cannot be said to be corruption because he no longer had influence over facilitating delivery notes or payments for Batatawala. “That’s not corruption but an attempt to get money by false pretence under the Penal Code, that’s the charge the two should answer. The other count is conspiracy to defraud MHC,” said Assani, adding that Simango admitted signing and receiving goods which, he said, were used in MHC projects but MHC claims the goods were not delivered. But in a May 18, 2001 letter the State Advocate Chambers in Blantyre, which falls under the DPP, refused to allow Fiscal Police to prosecute the same matter for fraud and referred it to the ACB to charge the suspect with corruption. On Tuesday, the DPP confirmed the development saying the case was then handled by Joseph Manyungwa, now Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate, whose opinion Assani said is different from his. “He [Manyungwa] didn’t get an opinion from me that the case should not be prosecuted as fraud so it’s not like I am changing my opinion on the matter,” he said. Nampota said while investigations were going on the ACB issued freezing orders for sums of approximately K60 million which included amounts the businessman was claiming from MHC and interest. He noted that since the freezing orders are based on the Corrupt Practices Act they are likely to fall away and the K60 million will immediately become payable to the businessman in the event of a lack of challenge from MHC. In a related development, Batatawala is also in another legal battle with MHC over Hardware House in Limbe which he bought at K15 million and sold to MHC at K37 million but sought to resale it to MHC at K25 million after commencement of the investigations before the ACB restricted the sale pending the probe. “In the charge sheet the private lawyers filed on behalf of the ACB, they included a charge of corruption against the businessman in respect of Hardware House. The DPP having declined to give consent, this charge too cannot continue and the Restriction Notice earlier on issued risks falling away as it was grounded on the Corrupt Practices Act,” said Nampota.
<<Back
© 2001-2002 Nation Publications Limited, All Rights Reserved