By Wezzie Gausi:
The High Court has dismissed two applications by East Bridge Estate Limited, clearing the way for the government’s application seeking permission to sell tobacco that is at the centre of a multi-billion Kwacha legal dispute.
The ruling is the latest development in a case stemming from the controversial East Bridge contracts that have attracted investigations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and several court battles over the company’s tobacco stocks.
East Bridge is pursuing compensation of more than $32 million (about K57 billion) from the Malawi Government over the disputed contracts.
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Attorney General Frank Mbeta said East Bridge first sought leave to appeal against an earlier High Court decision refusing to refer the dispute to arbitration.
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“The first application was for them to be allowed to appeal against the earlier court ruling that refused to refer the matter to arbitration.
“The second was for an order staying these proceedings pending that appeal,” Mbeta said after the hearing.
He said the government opposed both applications, arguing that the ruling East Bridge intended to challenge was merely an interlocutory order and could not be appealed at this stage.
“The court agreed with us that the order they sought to appeal against is what we call an interlocutory order. If appealed now, it would amount to what we call an inchoate appeal, which the Supreme Court is likely to refuse to hear and send back. For that reason, the court refused to grant leave to appeal,” Mbeta said.
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He added that because the application for a stay depended on the application for leave to appeal, the court also dismissed the request to halt the proceedings.
Following that decision, the court proceeded to hear the government’s application seeking authority to sell the tobacco that is under dispute.
“We’ve heard both sides, and the court has reserved its ruling to the nearest possible date for delivery,” Mbeta said.
The tobacco has remained the subject of litigation since the ACB imposed restrictions on East Bridge’s tobacco stocks as part of corruption investigations linked to the company’s government contracts.
