Ex-RTD boss accused of swindling pensioner
Former director of the Road Traffic Directorate (RTD), James Kalinde, is accused of swindling K2.5 million (US$5 966)out of a pensioner by selling him a house which was in the custody of a bank.
Weekend Nation has learnt that Kalinde sold the house in 2010 and has for the past three years been involved in a cat and mouse chase over the deal with the pensioner Edwick Dzuwa, a former employee of Lilongwe Water Board (LWB).
A letter from Dzuwa’s lawyer Edgar Kachere to police alleges that Kalinde sold the house when he knew it was in possession of National Bank of Malawi.
“Our firm was instructed by Mr. Edwick Dzuwa to recover the sum of K2.5 million from Mr. James Kalinde, money which he fraudulently obtained from our client through a false sale of a house, title number Bwaila 22/91 in Lilongwe.
“It is our client’s story that Mr. Kalinde informed him at the time of receiving the money, that he would organise a title deed since he had lost it before he was selling it to our client. Our client was therefore induced to pay K2 500 000 on a property that did not belong to Mr. Kalinde,” reads the letter dated December 23 2013.
The letter adds that Kalinde has been frequently switching houses in Lilongwe to make it difficult for Dzuwa to recover his money.
“After the fraud was discovered, Mr. Kalinde pledged to pay back the money to our client in an amicable way, through our office and his lawyer, Mr. [Kiphet] Kalasa. He has since 2011 not paid back the money,” reads the letter.
It says lawyers have attempted to settle the matter without pursuing criminal charges to no avail.
“We strongly believe that this is a clear criminal case of theft or obtaining money through false pretence as he sold property that did not belong to him.
“It is in this view that we ask your office to institute criminal proceedings against Mr. Kalinde with Mr. Dzuwa as the complainant. If Mr. Kalinde gives back the money, it should be by criminal restitution, either through your office or the court,” reads the letter.
According to a sale agreement signed by Kalinde and Dzuwa prepared by lawyer Kiphet Kalasa in July 2010, the two indeed agreed to transact on the house at the price of K2.5 million and Dzuwa fully paid the money in three instalments of K1.3 million, K1 million and K200 000.
In an interview on Tuesday, Dzuwa said he was surprised to discover that the house was later occupied by a person from National Bank of Malawi.
On June 20 last year, Dzuwa and Kalinde signed a memorandum of agreement on where Kalinde committed to refund the money in two months but Kalinde did not honour the agreement.
Reads the agreement in part: “The purchaser completed paying the purchase price but the vendor is unable to grant possession of the said title number Bwaila 22/91 to the purchaser and he has agreed to refund the purchase price to the purchaser within a period of two months from 1st June 2011.
“Now it is agreed as follows: pursuant to these presents, the vendor shall refund to the purchaser the full purchase price at the latest by 31st July 2011. Should there be default by the vendor to refund the purchase price by the above date, the purchaser shall proceed to seek alternative means of recover.”
Dzuwa said he is now demanding refund of the money with interest of K1 million considering devaluation of the kwacha over the past three years.
“We took this matter to court and the court granted us a warrant to seize Kalinde’s assets. To my surprise, the file disappeared at the court and the sheriffs found it difficult to confiscate Kalinde assets without a file at the court,” said Dzuwa.
On Thursday, Kalinde could not be reached on his phone despite several attempts but his lawyer, Kalasa, said the matter is now at mediation stage.
“The matter was taken to police and police summoned Kalinde. The matter stopped at mediation. The mediation process has not been completed,” said Kalasa.
