Court to restart ex-diplomat’s fraud case
The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court ruled that the multi-million-Kwacha case involving former Malawi deputy ambassador to Ethiopia Doreen Kapanga and former secretary for administration and finance Fletcher Chowe be restarted.
Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa made the ruling following an application by lawyer for the accused, Khumbo Soko, who prayed to the court to restart hearing witnesses following the change of presiding magistrate.
Initially, the case was being heard by the then magistrate Violet Chipawo, who was early this year appointed as judge of the High Court.
Soko argued that it would only be fair for the court to recall two witnesses who had already testified in the matter.
But Director of Public Prosecutions Steve Kayuni objected to the application, saying restarting the case could delay it further, which would not be in the interest of justice.
Chirwa agreed with the defence and ruled that hearing of witnesses in the case be restarted.
The case is expected to return to court on August 4 and 5.
In May 2016, Fiscal Police arrested Kapanga—a former deputy Inspector General of Police—and Chowe on suspicion that they were involved in the siphoning of $409,790 out of the public purse, and deposited the money into their accounts.
An investigative audit into the plunder of resources at the Malawi Embassy in Ethiopia revealed that K293 million was siphoned out of the public purse and deposited into personal accounts.
According to Kayuni, the State is expected to parade five witnesses in the case.
