Court convicts Facebook user over malicious post
The Lilongwe chief resident magistrate’s court has convicted Ignatius Kamwanje over a social media platform Facebook post which alleged that money was being stolen from National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc client’s accounts.
His conviction followed his guilty plea to an offence of prohibition of spamming, as outlined in section 91 of the Electronic Transaction and Cyber Security Act of 2016.
The police arrested Kamwanje in April this year after the bank had filed a complaint following his spate of damaging posts, among them, that NBM plc employees were involved in an ‘inside cartel’ to steal money from customers.
He alleged that four employees had been arrested in connection with the theft. However, when he was brought before chief resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa earlier today, he pleaded guilty.
After prosecutor Patrick Chipote had read the charge particulars, the magistrate asked Kamwanje if he had understood them, he nodded and maintained his guilty plea.
He will be sentenced this Thursday. He faces up to five years imprisonment and a K2 million fine.
