The High Court of Malawi said the k 20.9 billion bank gate case, which saw four of the country’s banks allegedly being defrauded , will not be restarted but will continue from where it stopped.
This follows the change of judges in the case which was initially being heard by Justice Sylvester Kalembera, who was promoted to the Supreme Court in June 2022.
The case has been assigned to High Court Judge Anneline Kanthambi.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the case came before court on Wednesday, when Kanthambi ordered that the matter should start from it stopped.
The case dares back to 2017, when four commercial banks in the country were allegedly defrauded of at least k 20.9 billion through loans obtained by a Pakistan national Abdul Rehman Abdulla, one of the directors at cotton Ginners Africa Limited.
The alleged fraud hit Standard bank Plc, Eco Bank Malawi, National Bank of Malawi, CDH Investment Bank as well as Export Development Fund.
The major victim of the alleged fraud is Standard Bank, which is owed about k 8.6 billion. Followed by Export Development Fund k4.1 billion, Eco Bank Malawi, k 3.5 Billion, CDH investment Bank k4.5 billion and National Bank of Malawi 250 million.
Nine accused person are facing charges that range from fraud to forgery and the matter is being prosecuted by state lawyers from the Directorate of public prosecutions.
Other accused persons are Mahommed Farook Ibrahim, Rizwana Abdul Rehman, Zarina Mahomed Faruk, Abdul Kadel Patel, Mahomed Faizal Patel, Spencer Zinyemba, William Kumwenda and Wyson Tumba.
Kanthambi said the next dates of hearing for continuation of trial would be communicated by the court to the parties.
Rehman Abdulla was one of the Directors at Cotton Ginners Limited before he allegedly left for Pakistan with his family.
After Rehman Abdulla’s departure, Cotton Ginners Limited filed for bankruptcy at the High court Commercial Division in Blantyre but the affected commercial banks challenged the move.
Rehman Abdulla reportedly obtained the loans using property of Cotton Ginners Africa Limited as security.
Source:Times
