Mzuzu-(MaraviPost)—Lilongwe based Senior Magistrate Shyreen Yona Chirwa has committed to the High Court the land case involving former ministers Charles Mchacha, Symon Vuwa Kaunda and former Chief Secretary to the government, Lloyd Muhara.

Two of the former top government officials, Kaunda and Muhara are being accused of conniving to sell a piece of land belonging to the department of forestry in Blantyre to their coaccused, Mchacha.

In her ruling, Chirwa agreed with the state lawyers who argued that the matter be committed to the high court as it centres on corruption.

However, Chirwa said it was out of order for her to restore the bail conditions on the accused persons and advised the state lawyers to apply at the high court for the conditions of paying bail bonds and appearing at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) every week.

Reacting to the ruling, lawyer for the accused, Chancy Gondwe, said the case has gray areas needing some clarifications.

He said: “There is a couple of issues: one of the issues is the manner in which the file has been transferred from one magistrate to another magistrate. So, we wanted the magistrate to clarify on that. So, the court made direction and decided that we proceed with the committal of proceedings.

“So, the accused persons in this case have been committed to high court for trial but there are also some others charges against the accused persons which are before another magistrate.”

On 7 January, Principal Resident Magistrate Viva Nyimba suspended the bail conditions which the state lawyers applied for on the basis that the lawyers did not follow proper procedures.