Court to sentence Leonard Kalonga Friday
The High Court in Lilongwe is Friday expected to sentence Leonard Kalonga, a former assistant director in the then Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture, about two years and eight months after he was convicted in the K3.7 billion Cashgate case.
Spokesperson in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Pilirani Masanjala, confirmed the development in an interview Thursday.
“Mr Kalonga will be sentenced on Friday, March 16, at the High Court in Lilongwe before Justice Fiona Mwale,” Masanjala said.
On August 26 2015, the court convicted Kalonga on his own plea of guilty for stealing money in the infamous 2013 siphoning of public funds scandal.
In his plea after admitting to have defrauded the government about K3.7 billion, Kalonga told the court that the money was being stolen in 2013 to support former president Joyce Banda’s People’s Party 2014 campaign.
Kalonga mentioned another Cashgate convict Osward Lutepo and former budget director Paul Mphwiyo as some of the accomplices.
In between Kalonga’s conviction and sentencing, the State has used him as principal witness in another Cashgate case involving Mphwiyo.
He named Mphwiyo as a Cashgate mastermind in the process.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau first arrested Kalonga in October 2013 and he initially denied the charges of theft and money laundering but later pleaded guilty to the charges.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
