By Wezzie Gausi:
High Court Judge Redson Kapindu has varied Vice President Saulos Chilima’s bail conditions, in line with the defence’s application.
The court observed, among other things, that the Vice President is not a flight risk.
On July 19 this year, Chilima, through his lawyers, applied to the High Court, asking it to review his bail conditions, arguing the bail conditions serve no purpose unless they were meant to humiliate the accused person.
Giving his ruling, Kapindu said the State should not keep Chilima’s passport.
- Advertisement -
Instead, he ordered, it should be handed over to the State President.
He said the passport is safe with the President as the Vice President cannot travel without seeking approval from the President.
“Chilima should be informing the ACB and the court 72 hours ahead of any foreign trip. If Chilima is traveling outside Malawi, he is supposed to state his destination, date of departure and return,” Kapindu told the court.
The Judge has also removed the condition that Chilima should be visiting Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) offices once every three months.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
Kapindu said, rather, the Office of the Vice President should be providing the ACB with Chilima’s schedule every fortnight.
In an interview, defence lawyer Khumbo Soko said the defence is satisfied with the ruling.
He said the defence now awaits the next phase of the case in which they are waiting for another ruling regarding the amended charge sheet by ACB.
“We are happy that the bail conditions have been put aside and we are just waiting for that ruling when the court resumes. We have made our application [and] it is up to the court to make its final determination.
“Our argument is that the ACB should not be the one handling this case since the bureau was the one that gave a go ahead for the contract that Chilima is being accused of,” Soko said.
ACB lawyer Chrispine Khunga said what the court has done is to add more conditions to the bail.
He said, with the new ruling, Chilima is expected to give his schedule to the bureau, which was not part of the initial bail conditions.
“We feel that the defence is bringing in many delaying tactics to the case. For instance, today, we came for plea taking but that did not happen as there were other applications made.
“We, as ACB, are just hoping that the next time we meet something else will not come up,” Khunga said.
Meanwhile, Kapindu has adjourned the matter to August 25 2023 when he will make a determination on the request that the ACB should furnish the defence with more disclosures, which are deemed privileged by the ACB.
Kapindu will, on the same day, give a ruling on an application by the defence, which is questioning the suitability of one of the ACB lawyers to prosecute the matter.
The Judge has also ordered the ACB to serve all required documents within seven days on their objections regarding submission of some of the requested disclosures.
