Police question MEC warehouse manager
]Police on Monday questioned Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) warehouse manager Diverson Makwete for allegedly lying to the Constitutional Court under oath.
National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera kept a tight lid on details of the session with Makwete held at National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe.
He said: “I don’t have further information on that.”
MEC director of media and communications Sangwani Mwafulirwa, in a separate interview on Tuesday, confirmed that Makwete was summoned to police, but refused to give finer details of the meeting, saying the officer went to police for questioning.
“It’s not true that he was arrested. He just went there [to police] for questioning. Further to that, I can’t give you information. Talk to him, he is not arrested,” he said.
The High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court hearing a petition seeking nullification of the presidential elections results in the May 21 Tripartite Elections ordered an investigation into Makwete for allegedly lying under oath through his witness statements.
The court declared Makwete’s statement as perjury and asked investigating agencies to probe him.
Perjury is a crime of telling a lie in court and is liable for a prison sentence.
During one of the court appearances, Judge Healey Potani, chairperson of the five-judge panel hearing the case, asked Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale to update the court if investigations were carried on Makwete.
Kaphale said he needed time to cross-check with his colleagues the status of the probe while Tamando Chokotho, a private practice lawyer representing MEC, said there was miscommunication in their system.
Makwete had earlier told the court in his statement that Central Region log books were locked up in Parliament warehouses, but later it was discovered that the same materials were at MEC warehouses.
