By Mercy Matonga:
The High Court in Blantyre has ruled that South African national William Bilderberg, who was being accused of being a fugitive, be allowed to access his bank accounts.
Bilderberg and his company, Bilderberg Limited, sued Ecobank Limited as the defendant and Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) as a third party to ask the two institutions to release his accounts which were frozen following investigations which FIA was carrying out.
Fiscal Police and the FIA launched an investigation into Bilderberg, also known as Willem Steenkamp, who allegedly deposited $20 million in a bank account held at Ecobank Malawi purportedly for investment purposes.
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It was suspected that the money were proceeds of crime.
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The ruling, which Malawi News has seen, indicates that the preservation order which prevented Bilderberg from accessing his accounts expired on February 6, exactly 90 days after it was issued as per section 67 of the Financial Crimes Act.
However, FIA applied for a civil forfeiture on February 7 and argued before the court that in terms of section 67(b) of the Act, the preservation order could be extended.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Ken Manda stated that there was no legal basis for the defendant to continue denying Bilderberg access to his accounts.
“In conclusion, the preservation order having expired by effluxion of time, there is no legal basis for the defendant to keep denying [Bilderberg and his company] access to their accounts,” ruled Manda.
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Bilderberg was apprehended in October after Malawian law enforcement agencies became aware of his attempt to invest $20 million in Malawian banks.
Bilderberg’s case was in December last muddled in some drama when Chief Resident Magistrate Chisomo Msokera recused himself from it in frustration over the state’s actions on the matter.
Initially, the state had opposed Bilderburg’s bail application on three occasions but consented to his bail application in a fourth application, arguing Bilderburg was no longer a flight risk.
While rejecting the previous bail requests, the court had ruled that Bilderburg’s past record as a fugitive from justice and also possession of South African passport made him a huge flight risk.
However, state prosecutors later went on to approve a bail request Biliderburg.
Before recusing himself, Msokera admonished the state for joining ranks with Bilderberg’s lawyers to undermine justice.
“We must emphasise that public confidence in the authority of the court is undermined where the court is made to rubberstamp illogical decisions which do not reconcile with the law and the facts.
“This is why we refuse to take part in such an exercise. We refuse to be a referee that is blind to the interests of justice,” said Msokera.
In finally approving the bail request, the state had argued that Venezuela which wanted Bilderburg to answer criminal charges had deleted its Interpol request for his arrest.
“We cannot help but marvel at how both the applicant and the state have reasoned and arrived at the conclusion that the applicant (Bilderburg) has ceased to be a flight risk.
“Before we conclude, we must express our concern with the way this application has been handled by the bar. We do not think the bar is incompetent.
“We think that the bar is deliberately putting the interests of the applicant ahead of the interests of justice. This is contrary to counsel’s duty to the court. And it is more worrying when the prosecution decides to participate in such approach to administration of justice,” Msokera said.
