Tag Archives: Shyreen Yona Chirwa

Malawi

Lilongwe Magistrate Court commits k5.1bn cement case to high court

Maneno Chimulala
Chunara (L), Chisale (C), Mukhitho (R)

Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Shyreen Yona Chirwa has on Friday committed to the High Court a cement case involving a former senior official of Malawi Revenue Authority Rosa Mbilizi, former presidential aide Norman Chisale, former director of State Residences Peter Mukhito and businessman Muhammad Shafee Chunara.

Director of Public Prosecution Steve Kayuni said the procedure is in accordance with the Criminal procedure and evidence code.

He expressed hope that the Magistrate Court will soon process case documents to ensure the start of proceedings at the High Court.

“We came to court to commit the accused to the High Court where the accused will take their plea. We will wait for the dates of commencement,” Kayuni said.

Lawyer for the four, Powell Nkhutabasa, said they will be waiting to be served with documents by the State for them to start preparing for the case.

The four were arrested last year and have been charged with 7 counts including fraud and money laundering.

It is alleged that between 2018 and 2019, the four connived to import 800, 000 bags of cement duty free using former Head of State Peter Mutharika’s Tax Payer Identification Number which translates to K5.1 billion.

corruption, Malawi

Mchacha, Vuwa and Muhara’s land case committed to Malawi High Court

Richard Kayenda
Charles Mchacha

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.