BLANTYRE (MaraPost)–Malawi’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Bruno Kalemba has classified that cashgate suspect Osward Lutepo is not key state witness in the case against fellow suspect Victor Sithole.
The 27-year-old Sithole was arrested in September last year after being found with K112 million in two separate vehicles, $ 31900 and 121 000 South African rand in his house in Area 47 in Lilongwe.
When hearing of the case continued last Thursday at the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court, the state paraded Lutepo, who is the main suspect in the K1.2 billion (US$2 948 403) theft and money laundering case, as their key witness against Sithole, who pleaded not guilty to all three counts of possession of property believed to have been stolen, illegal possession of foreign currency and money laundering.
Kalemba said Lutepo, former governing People’s Party official, was only paraded in court following his claims that he was forced to sign documents claiming that the money that was found with Sithole belonged to him.
When Sithole was arrested, Lutepo applied to the court to order that the local currency of the money found in Sithole’s possession be released to him, but later changed the tune, claiming he was forced to do so by lawyers Ralph Kasambara and Wapona Kita.
Kalemba said “he is not the key witness, we brought him to testify on claims that he was forced to sign the documents asking for the release of money suspected to have been stolen.”
He said the state will still prosecute Lutepo on the K1.2 billion theft and money laundering case.-MARAPOST.
