The High Court in Blantyre has set November 15 2012 to decide the way forward in the K1.7 billion (about $5.7 million) corruption case involving former president Bakili Muluzi and his co-accused.
Progress in the case has stalled due to Muluzi’s poor health.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is prosecuting Muluzi and his co-accused, Lyness Violet Whisky. They are accused of diverting K1.7 billion into his personal accounts when he was in power between 1994 and 2004. Both deny the charges.
Muluzi is currently admitted to a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, where doctors operated on him to fix his slipped discs.
The former president this week failed to travel from South Africa to attend his mother’s burial on Monday at Kapoloma Village in Machinga.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba on Wednesday said the court was informed that Muluzi underwent an operation and that a team of surgeons will conduct a post-surgery review on Thursday, after which a report will be produced.
“In light of this development, the court has adjourned the matter to the 15th of November [2012] for review and setting down trial dates,†he said.
One of the lawyers representing Muluzi, Kalekeni Kaphale, said the matter came for review in court on Wednesday, but in light of Muluzi’s sickness, the way forward will be decided on November 15.
In July, trial failed to commence because Kalemba told the court that government wanted to reconstitute the prosecution team.
Then, ACB was represented by its director Alex Nampota, who is currently not reporting for duties due to contractual differences with his employers; private practice lawyer Clement Mwala and Chief State Advocate David Nyamirandu.
Nampota was recently arrested on allegations that he claimed K1.5 million in allowances on a trip he reportedly never undertook.
Muluzi’s case has dragged since he and Whisky were arrested because, among others, the former was declared unfit for trial on health grounds.
