When plea bargaining failed Lutepo

In September 2013, gates to what was meant to be a clandestine and non-detectable criminal syndicate of fraudsters and money launderers were flung open.

“Information revealing an unprecedented fiscal scandal gradually unfolded in a manner an unsuspecting observer would have been forgiven to think was a masterfully scripted piece of fiction. Yet, and very sadly for Malawi, this was no fiction. It was a shocking reality. Billions of Malawi kwacha had been embezzled from the national fiscus by some unscrupulous people.”

That is how Zomba-based High Court Judge Redson Kapindu began what became a 56-page sentencing order on businessperson-cum-politician Oswald Lutepo on September 4 this year after failed attempts not to stand trial due to a supposed mental illness.

Lutepo elicited pity and sympathy from some Malawians when pictures appeared in the media showing him on a wheel-chair and had to be carried up the stairs to a courtroom during trial.

He had earlier applied to the court to declare that he was not mentally fit to stand trial. However, two separate psychiatristic evaluations found that Lutepo was “malingering”, a technical term to mean he was faking his illness and his mental capacity could withstand trial.

When that failed, Lutepo decided it was time to stop the charade and plead guilty to all charges, made less through a plea bargain that neither the prosecution nor defence have admitted to since then.

Initially, Lutepo was charged with theft, possession of money suspected to have been stolen and money laundering, but these were changed to conspiracy to defraud the government which attracts a three-year sentence and money laundering.

Evidence of a plea bargain gone well, in addition to paying back the money, was there in the sentencing of former Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Tourism Tressa Senzani who got away with nine months for theft and three years for laundering K63 million.

Lutepo’s cooperation with the prosecution to reveal details of how the scam was carried out, some believed, could mean that he would get a lesser sentence. But that was not the case.

In his ruling, Kapindu said by asking for a one year suspended sentence after laundering K4.2 billion (about $6.5million) then wasting the court’s time by faking a mental illness, Lutepo was not remorseful and deserved a stiff sentence.

Said the judge: “It seems he [Lutepo] views himself more as a victim who was used by other people to commit these crimes, and he is not fully reconciled to accepting that he personally caused great harm to the Malawian society. I can only classify him as marginally remorseful.”

Perhaps knowing his fate, Lutepo addressed the media before his sentencing, describing former president Joyce Banda and others who he said were involved in Cashgate—the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill—as people without love.

He said: “Joyce Banda used me. She knows how she used me. I insist, my conscious is clear that I didn’t steal from the government. How could I get hold of government money on my own? The money was for them.”

Since Lutepo pleaded guilty but got a stiff sentence for his cooperation, three more Cashgate suspects have followed suit, among them Leonard Kalonga and James Bandula Chirwa who have pleaded guilty to Cashgate related charges.

Not having learnt a lesson from Kapindu’s sentence, contractor Esnart Ndovi pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of lending a certificate for personification and money laundering then proceeded to pay back the K12.9 million which went through the accounts of her company, Fusion Ltd.

Ndovi was sentenced to a total of three years for the two charges even after she paid back the money.

In February, Luke Kasamba was convicted on the charge of laundering K24 million and sentenced to four years imprisonment while his co-accused Maxwell Namata was sentenced to three years for theft and laundering of K14 million.

Going into the new year of 2016,  the courts are expected to mete out sentences for contractor and civil servant James Bandula Chirwa who is charged with conspiracy to defraud government and money laundering of K513 million. There is also unfinished business in the case of Kalonga who pleaded guilty to theft and laundering K3.7 billion.n

KEY DATES

January 28:  Wyson Dzinyemba Soko is sentenced to seven and a half years

February 16:  Luke Kasamba is sentenced to five years for money laundering while co-accused Maxwell Namata is sentenced to three years for theft and four and a half years for money laundering.

August 26: Leonard Kalonga pleads guilty

September 3: Lutepo is sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.