Last week the ACB was our guest on this page. We teased the anti-graft body how it could let a woman who skimmed K63 million from government get off with a mere slap on the wrist.
Well, Egrita Ndala, her whose day job is to tell us who has been playing monopoly with our cash, dropped by with a little lecture. Enjoy:
“We write to clarify on the charge of theft against Mrs. Tressa Senzani in Muckraking on Sunday of 19th October, 2014 titled Raw deal. In his column Raphael Tenthani is questioning the reason behind the ACB charging the former PS with theft instead of theft by servant.
It should be understood that the money which Mrs. Senzani stole was not from the Ministry of Tourism. The money was from the Account Number One which was not in the custody of Mrs. Senzani. Therefore, any attempt to acquire funds from the account was construed as theft. A suspect is charged with theft by servant on things which he/she was a custodian.
In the column Mr. Tenthani has also accused the Bureau of hiding information from the court. The fact of the matter is that the Bureau had the evidence filed in court but the suspect pleaded guilty to the charges. Legally, prosecution does parade witnesses to prove a case whose suspect has pleaded guilty. It is only when a charge of not guilty has been entered that the prosecution tenders evidence in court.
On the arrest of Mr. Christopher Tukula, it should be understood that Mr. Tukula was not investigated for giving legal advice to his clients. What the Bureau established was that Mr. Tukula was telling his clients as well as other people (who were not his clients but were called to the Bureau to give witness statements) to lie to the Bureau. This is tantamount to causing people to give false information to the Bureau.
The case he has been arrested for started way back in October 2013 before he was appointed Director of Public Declarations. The Bureau obtained a warrant of arrest on 18th October, 2013. The Bureau had tried to execute it but Mr. Tukula was not available in Lilongwe. What delayed the execution of the warrant was the injunction which Mr. Tukula had obtained on 25th October 2014, through his lawyer Mr. Ralph Kasambara.
It would, therefore, be misleading to present issues as if the arrest has been done to incapacitate the office of the Director