The High Court sitting as a Constitutional Court in Zomba has dismissed with costs claims by businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala and Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services former boss Elvis Thodi, who wanted it to declare their money laundering case unconstitutional.
A panel of three judges, comprising Texious Masoamphambe, Patrick Chirwa and Dick Sankhulani, has ruled that the case is constitutional.
In so doing, the panel has dismissed with costs claims by the two and ordered that the money laundering case should proceed.
Batatawala and Thodi are facing criminal charges at a magistrate court in Blantyre, where the State is alleging that they inflated figures of materials supplied to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services by a company owned by Batatawala.
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It took Masoamphambe two hours and thirty minutes to read the judgement Wednesday afternoon.
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Masoamphambe explained that the State did not, in any way, contravene the law by charging them with Section 42(1)(c) of the Financial Crimes Act (FCA) of 2017.
He argued that the State did not violate any right of the accused persons in the matter, saying the previous law had the same stand as the FCA of 2017.
On his part, Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) Chief Legal and Prosecution Officer Anafi Likwanya said this was a landmark ruling for the State.
“This is a landmark ruling for us. It has been our prayer that we must proceed with prosecution in the matter. It’s a case we have been willing to prosecute and conclude trial. So we are very happy with the court’s determination and we will bring our last witnesses for the court to decide,” he said.
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Senior State Advocate at the Ministry of Justice Mathews Chione told The Daily Times that the Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda would be on the side of those that will be determining the costs they have been awarded in the dismissal.
Efforts to reach lawyers representing Batatawala and Thodi proved futile as they rushed to their cars in the aftermath of court proceedings.
The matter also involves Immigration commissioner responsible for operations Fletcher Nyirenda and deputy director Limbani Chawinga.
The four, who were arrested by the ACB in mid-December 2022, also want their criminal prosecution declared unconstitutional.
The criminal proceedings were abruptly stopped in January 2023 after eight witnesses had already testified to pave the way for the current constitutional matter.
Three weeks ago, one of their lawyers, Fostino Maere, argued at a court sitting in Zomba that the FCA under which they were charged was enacted after the alleged offences were brought up by the State and that they wanted the court to interpret if there was no violation of the constitution.
Maere said charging them using FCA provisions was unconstitutional, considering that the previous Money Laundering Act attracted a maximum of 12 years prison term but the new FCA attracts life imprisonment after conviction.
