By Pemphero Malimba:
The High Court Financial Crimes Division sitting in Lilongwe is this morning expected to hear an application in which three senior lawyers are seeking permission to commence judicial review proceedings against decisions made by the Solicitor General, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Attorney General (AG).
DISCLOSURES—Mputeni
Judiciary spokesperson Ruth Mputeni and Ministry of Justice counterpart Frank Namangale confirmed the scheduled hearing yesterday.
The lawyers are Kamudoni Nyasulu, George Desiderio Liwimbi and Enock Chibwana.
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Among other things, the three are against the Solicitor General and Secretary for Justice’s decision purporting to terminate the consultancy agreement between them and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in December last year.
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“[The three are also against] the decision of the 2nd defendant, the Director of Public Prosecutions, purporting to withdraw the claimants’ appointments as public prosecutors. [We also do not agree with] the decision of the 3rd defendant, Fostino Yankho Maele, misrepresenting himself as Director of Public Prosecutions and purporting to withdraw the claimants’ prosecutorial appointments in matters in which he is legally disqualified due to conflict of interest,” a court document shows.
The lawyers are also against the DPP’s decision to discontinue some of the cases they were prosecuting.
“[The three lawyers are against] the decision of the 4th defendant (Attorney General) directing the 3rd defendant (Fostino Yankho Maele), who the said 4th defendant knew was conflicted to discontinue criminal cases that the claimants were prosecuting,” the court document reads.
The three lawyers are further seeking an expedited hearing of the substantive judicial review.
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“[If permission is granted, the claimants also seek:) a stay of the impugned decisions pending determination of the judicial review or further order, a stay of the orders of discontinuance in the cases prosecuted by the claimants pending the determination of the judicial review or further order,” the court document says.
In Nyasulu’s sworn statement, the lawyers argue that the termination letters were issued without prior engagement and without any contract administration process, among other things.
The lawyers, who were contracted by the ministry early 2024, were operating under Prosecution Team Linthumbu (PTL) between 2024 and 2025.
PTL was established as a national, multi-institutional, high-profile prosecution and justice-sector reform initiative designed to address Malawi’s chronic failure to prosecute high-value corruption and financial
