Law society faults judge

Malawi Law Society (MLS) has faulted the way High Court of Malawi Judge Zione Ntaba granted an order suspending ACB’s arrest of Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa.

In a statement jointly signed by president Patrick Mpaka and honorary secretary Chrispin Ngunde, the society observed that the court did not decide on the first question on whether to grant the minister leave for judicial review, but proceeded to put aside the warrant of arrest and subsequent arrest.

Reads the statement in part: “There appears to the Law Society no basis to deal with the conditional question of stay given that the ruling records that Mr Msukwa expressly asked for stay ‘if permission to apply for judicial review is granted’.

“On that basis, the Law Society is of the view that the court should not have proceeded to grant the order of stay.”

Despite its position, the MLS said the order remained valid until otherwise dealt with by the court.

In its recommendation, MLS has advised the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to apply to the court to have the order set aside or to have it reviewed by, among other things, pointing out apparent errors in the New Year’s Day judgement delivered in Zomba.

The ACB arrested Msukwa on Friday in connection with his alleged role in the land sale transactions to businessperson Zuneth Sattar through his partner Ashok Kumar Sreedharan also known as Ashok Nair, who was earlier arrested on Thursday.

Following his arrest, Msukwa, through his lawyer Lughano Mwabutwa on Friday applied to the High Court of Malawi Zomba District Registry for permission for judicial review and interim relief by way of an order to suspend his arrest.

Making her ruling on Saturday, Ntaba described the conduct of ACB in the arrest of Msukwa as “unconscionable and unreasonable and more so just to cause embarrassment to the claimant”.

The judge said: “The court orders that the purported arrest, including further detention in the hospital, is stayed until the determination of the leave of application.”

In an interview yesterday, ACB director general Martha Chizuma said the graft-busting agency will challenge the court order and have it discharged.

She said: “The judgement only came yesterday [Saturday]. Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is a public holiday. It means that when we are open, it’s when we will do that.”

The judgement has sparked debate in the public sphere with some members of society taking to the social media to express their views. Some of the commentators, mostly laymen in legal matters, have lashed out at the judge, faulting her for the ruling.

But former minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara yesterday blamed people attacking the judge.

Writing on his Facebook page, he said a court order needs to be obeyed, be it void or illegal as it is valid until it is set aside.

Said Kasambara: “It is extremely sad that we have so-called senior lawyers or legal consultants agitating for disobedience of court orders.”

When contacted later by The Nation, he said he stood by his post on Facebook.

The ACB arrested Msukwa on Friday at Partners in Hope Hospital in Lilongwe where he was reportedly being treated for an illness.

His arrest came after ACB officials had waited for him in the morning to hand himself in following a warrant for arrest issued on him on Wednesday.

On Thursday evening, Msukwa, who is also Chitipa East legislator, told The Nation that he was at his home in Chitipa and that he was learning about the warrant for his arrest in the media.

Earlier on Friday, he said he over to ACB in Lilongwe.

In a statement issued on Thursday, ACB accused Nair of allegedly giving bribes to politically exposed persons with the aim of influencing public officers to corruptly award contracts to companies belonging to Sattar.

Msukwa is also suspected to have committed three counts of corrupt use of official power in relation to allocation of plots to Sattar, according to the particulars of the warrant for arrest.

He became a second member of President Lazarus Chakwera’s Cabinet to be arrested in connection with alleged corruption. Former minister of Energy Newton Kambala was the first in August this year following allegations of fraud and corruption.