Former minister of information in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regime and an executive member of the party, Patricia Kaliati, has been ordered to pay MK 50,000 by the Blantyre Magistrates Court over her on-going corruption case.

The court has ordered Kaliati to pay the money after she failed to appear in court yesterday for her case which was adjourned on October 2 after the state had presented contradictory statements in their submissions to court and what was submitted to Kaliati’s team.

Kaliati is answering charges over accusations that she used her power to force the ministry of education to enroll students into Secondary schools from her Mulanje West constituency, some of the students are said to have initially failed their Primary school leaving examinations.

The state earlier alleged that Kaliati had used the power to have only Form 1 students enrolled but as time went by, the allegation had been changed that the students were enrolled in various Forms.