By: Lloyd M’bwana
The country’s Former President Bakili Muluzi has on Monday, February 1, 2016 withdrawn his application for a constitutional review in which he was asking the Chief Justice to determine whether the MK1.7 billion theft case answering was to be tried as a constitutional matter not criminal.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Deputy Director Reyneck Matemba confirmed the development to the local press that Judge MacLean Kamwambe has allowed the withdrawal which means that the MK1.7 billion theft case Muluzi is answering will return to the high court for further trial.
Matenda disclosed that the case will resume at the high court as a criminal matter on April 11, 2016 saying two weeks has been put forward for the proceedings without any interruptions.
“The stage we are at now is that what was dragging down the case is gone. It’s now a new chapter as all preliminary issues on this case have been sorted out such that the court has given two weeks to proceed with the case without injunctions, adjournment in between those two weeks that we carry the trial thoroughly starting from April 11, 2016”, explains Matemba.
The former President Muluzi first appeared in court in February 2009 accused of siphoning US$11 million (MK1.7 billion) donor money and was initially charged with 80 counts of allegedly tapping aid cash into his private account alongside with his personal assistant Violet Whisky.
Muluzi ruled Malawi from 1994 to 2004 though his bid for third tem was shot down by Parliament when chiefs across the nation were paraded to support his unconstitutional decision.
