Court rejects uniform bail conditions bid in cement case

High Court of Malawi Judge Redson Kapindu on Tuesday rejected an application by the State to have the court impose uniform bail conditions on suspects in the K5 billion cement import case in a ruling delivered in Lilongwe.

In the case, former Malawi Revenue Authority deputy commissioner general Roza Mbilizi, former director of State residences Peter Mukhito and others, are suspected of importing cement abusing the former president Peter Mutharika’s taxpayer identification number (TPIN).

Mbilizi and Mukhito are on police bail while the other suspects in the same case, businessperson Mohammed Chunara and Mutharika’s former bodyguard Norman Chisale are on court bail.

The State on Tuesday applied to the court to provide bail conditions for Mukhito and Mbilizi so that there is uniformity of bail conditions for all suspects in the case.

Among others, the court bail conditions require each suspect to make a K10 million cash deposit, produce surety bonded at K50 million non-cash, report to National Police Headquarters, not to interfere with State witnesses, not to travel without informing the police, and to cooperate with police during investigations.

On the other hand, those on police bail only have one condition—to report to police and that they be their own sureties.

In his ruling, Kapindu stressed that the State’s application to have uniform bail conditions for the suspects was not proper.

He said the State needed to have an application with sworn affidavits indicating the fears in having the suspects operating on police bail.

Kapindu said: “The application should have been made with a sworn affidavit and the accused should also have been given time to respond.”

The judge also pointed out that the State was responsible for Mukhitho and Mbilizi ‘s arrests, adding it is the police that decided to treat the suspects differently.

He said there was need for proper coordination between the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the police, adding such situations raise questions of equal treatment of suspects.

However, Kapindu said if the State still wants to pursue the matter it should apply for variation of the conditions for police bail.

He also ordered that Ahmed Mohammed Chunara, who was arrested on Monday in connection with the case, be added as a fifth witness. Ahmed Chunara is father to Mahmed Chunara, the first suspect.

Kapindu, when delivering the ruling on an application by the State to have the Senior Chunara added to the case, said the files need to be consolidated as the issues are related.

In making the application, DPP Steve Kayuni said as the situation is, there is no fairness and no uniformity despite that the suspects are answering the same case. He said the conditions that were given by the court cannot be compared to the police conditions.

“There are reasons why there are cash deposits, sureties and other conditions in court bail. The police bail was also for purposes of investigations and not trial,” he said.

He feared that for those on police bail, there is no security for attendance.

But lawyer for Mukhito and Mbilizi, Manuel Theu wondered why the State wanted to ensure attendance when the suspects were already attending court sittings.

The case has since been adjourned to May 6 for plea and directions. The court will also deal with any preliminary issues that may rise. The first four suspects in case were arrested in 2020.