LILONGWE-(MaraviPpst)-The country’s graft-bursting agency, Anti-Corruption Burea (ACB) has been caught tampering with former National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) deputy chief executive officer Helen Buluma’s phone.

This was revealed on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, when one of the defence lawyers, in a case in which former Minister of Energy Newton Kambala and others are accused of attempting to influence awarding of fuel contracts demonstrated in court that Buluma’s phone was tampered with while in the hands of ACB.

The other accused persons including former presidential advisor Chris Chaima Banda and Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) president Enoch Chihana.

The defence lawyer, Wapona Kita, while cross-examining Buluma in court produced photos of Buluma’s iPhone 11 that he took when defence team inspected the phone on February 15, 2022.

The photos show that the contents of the phone then, particularly the recordings, are different from what is in the phone now.

The photos show that by then the phone had 53 recordings while the phone now has only three recordings.

The photos also show that recently deleted recordings were two by then but on the handset now there is nothing on deleted items.

The photos also show that there was no folder named Case NOCMA at the time of inspection, but now there is that folder on the phone.

This is how the cross-examining was captured in court today:

Kita inquired from Buluma, “How many recordings are in your gadget?”

Buluma replied, “3.”

Kita then asked, “How many recordings are showing in the picture that I took during our phone inspection?”

Buluma responded, “53.”

Continuing the inquiry, Kita asked, “How many files are in the deleted folder?”

Buluma stated, “0.”

Kita inquired, “How many are in the picture I have shown you?”

Buluma replied, “2.”

Kita informed the court that Buluma’s phone appeared to have been tampered with.

“We are wasting each other’s time. What is clear is that your phone has been tampered with,” said Kita.

In her response, Buluma could not say anything about the tampering of the phone but only said that the phone was surrendered to the Bureau in September 2021.

Kita also produced a photo of a sim card that the phone had in February 2022. The sim card looked different from the sim card that is on the phone now.

Buluma then conceded that the contents were indeed different.

Source: NationOnline/mijnews