Cashgate buses disposal ruling today
The High Court in Lilongwe is this afternoon expected to deliver a ruling on the matter in which government would like to dispose of the six Marcopolo buses at the heart of the theft and money laundering case against a former chief tourism officer in the Ministry of Tourism, Leonard Karonga.
The matter was brought before judge Fiona Mwale yesterday where the State, through principal legal advocate Dziko Malunda, argued that they were seeking to release the six buses because investigations carried out in the case against Karonga so far had revealed that they were bought from Automotive Products Limited (APL) using government money.
In the documents presented in court, the State claimed that evidence during trial would show that all government procurement requirements were not done.
The State cited Section 149 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code which states that the court may order such items to be sold or disposed of or be handed over to the person claiming to be entitled to them.
“We want the order granted to the State to take delivery of the six buses because the buses were bought using government money and to date other than government, no one has claimed entitlement to those buses,” reads the documents.
Joseph Kamkwasi argued that by seeking disposal of the buses because they were deteriorating, government was shooting itself in the foot because they had in custody a lot of property belonging to suspects which were deteriorating under the elements at Police Headquarters in Area 30.
“By claiming the buses, government is legalising the illegal transaction which means it was a valid contract between government and Automotive Products Limited. This means government will be a lawful agent of the transaction and my client can’t be charged of any crime,” Kamkwasi said after hearing which took place in the judges’ chamber.
Kamkwasi further told the court that government had other remedies to dispose of the buses among them claiming the money back from APL if they could prove that they were bought through a rigorous procurement process.
