The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court has set Thursday, April 22 to decide on the bail application for 2 senior government officials and a contractor on a case involving the plunder of Covid relief funds.
The 2 government officials have been identified as Director of Administration in the Office of the President and Cabinet Rashid Mtelera and Dominic Chimaliro from the same office.
The 2 and a contractor Martin Mainja appeared before the court this morning.
They allegedly misappropriated over K97 Million through procurement procedures, while among the counts is of flaunting procurement procedures against public disposal and procurement of asset act.
The fourth charge however involves money laundering where Mainja is accused of receiving precedes of crime amounting to K97.1 million
The state prosecutor Levison Mangani requested the court to allow the three suspects to remain in police custody as the investigations continue.
Powell Mkutabasa, who is among the lawyers representing the three objected to the state’s plea arguing that the state had failed to prove that the three may interfere with the evidence.
“It’s very important for the court to be an impartial habit, and we trust that the court will process requests we have made,” said Mkutabasa.
While on a similar development, deputy director of administration at the ministry of information Samuel Nankhuni and two others have also been charged with abuse office and flaunting procurement procedures after the awarded contracts to broadcast Covid 19 materials to the televisions and radio stations
An audit report by the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed massive plunder of K6.2 billion through allowances and flaunting procurement procedures leading to several arrests.
