State concludes parading witnesses in Magalasi case

The State says it has finalised parading witnesses in K704 million case in which former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Collins Magalasi and others are accused of fraud and abuse of office.

Magalasi and procurement officer Bright Mbewe are also accused of bending procurement procedures in relation to the purchase of a mobile fuel testing van worth K704 million.

The State yesterday paraded its sixth and last witness, a police investigator involved in the probe of the case at hand.

The witness, Ephraim Phiri, told the court that Mera did not follow procurement and administration procedures in the procurement of the fuel testing van.

He told the court that the energy regulator made an upfront payment of K563 million, which was above the K30 million limit for payments without approval, without seeking the approval from Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA).

Phiri said: “In our investigations, we engaged the director of Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority if PPDA was involved and if procurement processes were followed and the investigations established that the procurement and management processes were not followed.”

He added that the final payment was also made before the van had been delivered when the arrangement was that payment should be made 30 days after delivery.

The police investigator also told the court that van’s price was also inflated.

However, during cross-examination, Phiri could not state how much Magalasi and Mbewe personally benefited from the procurement contract.

The witness could also not state how much the mobile fuel testing van costs, only saying that someone once indicated that Zimbabwe bought a similar van at a much lower price.

Magalasi’s lawyer Andy Kaonga also weighed in on the issue of the bidding process, saying it followed the national bidding process and that a supplier was selected after bidding.

After the State concluded its part, one of the defence lawyers, Enoch Chibwana, asked for 30 days for the defence to make submissions and also serve the State.

Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa granted the 30 days in which defence will have to serve the State with documents within 21 days and have the State respond within seven days.

Magalasi and Mbewe are alleged to have embarked on fraud, misprocurement and abuse of office in the procurement of the van valued at K704 million in 2018.

The State is arguing that the procurement of the van did not follow procurement processes and that it was overpriced.