Zodiak Radio has been broadcasting that Mr. Oswald Lutepo has pleaded guilty to charges of theft and laundering K2.1 billion believed to have been obtained in the plunder of government funds popularly referred to as Cashgate and has been convicted by the High Court in Zomba.
Appearing before Justice Redson Kapindu, Oswald Lutepo entered a plea of guilty for his charges.
After his admission of guilty the Judge revoked his bail. He will now be detained in custody while awaiting his sentencing.
Lutepo’s lawyer Osward Mtupila confirmed the proceedings, saying Mr. Oswald Lutepo changed his plea to “guilty” upon his legal advice.
His lawyer revealed that Mr Lutepo could not come up with good reasons for the money and upon advice he agreed to the plea of guilty.
Many court observers admit that Oswald Lutepo who has been accused as the chief cashgate suspect and was last year proclaiming on Zodiak Radio that he had the goods on former President Joyce Banda, will now cooperate in order to implicate Joyce Banda.
A so called forensic audit report into the plunder of public resources at Capitol Hill due to abuse of public finance management tools dubbed ‘Cashgate’ established that K24 billion was stolen between April and September 2013.
Oswald Lutepo allegedly got the second highest payments on the list of individuals amounting to K4.4 billion (US$9.8 million). However Lutepo has implied that he was simply a conduit, the money ended up as part of the PP election campaign for the 2014 Presidential elections which they lost.
Oswald Lutepo was found not guilty in the attempted murder of Paul Mphwiyo as the lead detective told the court there was no evidence linking him to the shooting
