High Court rebuffs defence in fuel imports case

The High Court of Malawi has dismissed an application by one of the defendants in the fuel procurement contracts case to have newly appointed Judge Patrick Chirwa recuse himself from the matter.

Delivering his judgement on Wednesday, High Court Judge Redson Kapindu said former presidential aide Chris Chaima Banda’s application was unfortunate as it made serious allegations against an officer of the court besides being premised on “fictitious” grounds.

The judge said: “This is a scurrilous allegation made by an officer of the court against the court, which is deeply unfortunate when one examines the application in its entirety.

“We have to say some of the grounds were not just fictitious, but clearly unprofessional and distasteful.”

Banda alongside former minister of Energy Newton Kambala and Alliance for Democracy president Enock Chihana initially asked Chirwa to recuse himself from hearing the matter in the magistrate’s court now that he was a judge of the High Court.

But in his order dated April 20 2022, Chirwa said he would continue presiding over the case in which the trio is accused of allegedly attempting to influence the procurement of fuel at National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma).

On Thursday, Chirwa adjourned the matter to today after the defence objected to submission of recorded conversation between Banda and Nocma deputy chief executive officer Helen Buluma, who is a State witness.

Defence lawyer Wapona Kita argued that this evidence could not be relied upon based on the manner it was obtained.

Prosecution, represented by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, asked the court to allow them to submit a written submission opposing the defence’s position.