Senior Resident Magistrate Shyreen Chirwa has referred to Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa the money laundering and fraud case against former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) chief executive officer Collins Magalasi, business person Dorothy Shonga Nkhoma and two other MERA officials Patrick Maulidi and Bright Mbewe.
Lawyer for Magalasi applied before Shyreen Chirwa to have the case transferred to another magistrate saying Shyreen Chirwa was already handling a case involving Magalasi and MERA.
The lawyer, Andy Kaonga argued that having one magistrate handle cases involving the same person, company and witnesses could affect fair trial.
Shyreen Chirwa expressed concern over the reasoning of Kaonga saying it was demeaning.
She stated that she was offended and found no basis on which Kaonga was making the application. She said the two cases were different and could be handled by same magistrate.
However, she said for fairness sake, she transferred the matter to Patrick Chirwa.
Shyreen Chirwa will now only handle the case in which Magalasi is accused to have used money from MERA to pay for accommodation of Democratic Progressive Party officials.
CRM Patrick Chirwa has since adjourned the case to March 1, 2021.
