Court allows Mphwiyo travel
The High Court in Lilongwe has allowed Cashgate suspect Paul Mphwiyo to travel to South Africa to undergo a follow-up surgery on his jaw following his shooting on September 13 2013.
Mphwiyo’s follow-up surgery is scheduled for July 21 2015.
earlier court appearance
The court order follows the varying of his bail conditions in May requiring Mphwiyo to seek permission to travel abroad from the court and not the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as per the earlier arrangement. However, his passport would continue to be in the custody of the ACB.
Apart from facing charges of theft and money laundering K2.1 billion ($4.7 million), Mphwiyo is also a victim of the shooting outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe when he was budget director in the Ministry of Finance. His shooting has made some sections of society suspect it was linked to the subsequent discovery of the missing of K24 billion ($53.3 million) from the public coffers at Capital Hill between April and September 2013 as established by British forensic auditors, Baker Tilly.
Upon hearing Mphwiyo’s lawyer, Shadreck Mhango of KD Freeman & Associates, that his client would return to Malawi as he has previously done when he was last granted permission to travel to South Africa, High Court judge Charles Mkandawire yesterday ordered that Mphwiyo should travel on July 19 and return by August 2.
The conditions for the travel remain that Mphwiyo should surrender copy of air ticket to the ACB and upon arrival at OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa then surrender his passport to the Malawi High Commission there.
Mphwiyo has on several occasions been denied permission to travel after ACB received reports that he planned to jump bail.
He is on a K10 million bond, bonded his Area 43 house and four cash sureties worth K2 million each.
