The State Monday tendered Malawi Defence Force (MDF) “sensitive” documents to court in the corruption case involving Vice President Saulos Chilima.
The documents are meant for use as part of the evidence in the matter.
Last week, Judge Redson Kapindu ruled in favour of Chilima on the issue to have MDF disclose evidence that Chilima requested.
Judiciary spokesperson Kondwani Banda confirmed the development Monday.
“I can confirm that the State has tendered the documents to the court as of Monday,” Banda said.
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Last week, Kapindu said the evidence would be filed directly to his chamber to ascertain the sensitivity in question and the degree to which they can be used.
But the court ruled in favour of the State on one preliminary issue in which Chilima wanted the ACB to specify the bribe he is alleged to have received to influence the awarding of a contract.
This is according to the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB).
“In his observation, the judge says it is not common that when people are discussing bribes, they would put details but there are words and actions and sometimes conduct that demonstrates and gives you an indication that there was [an] exchange of [a] bribe.
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“So, it is for that reason that we did not specify the amount involved and we strongly believe that the evidence that will be given in court will give [people] an understanding of what really happened,” ACB chief legal and prosecutions officer Imran Saidi said.
On the dropped charges, Saidi said they are not serious charges and will not affect their case that much.
According to him, the judge has left critical charges to still be answered by Chilima.
On the ruling on MDF, Saidi said their take is that the documents are still confidential.
“We still stand by MDF, that the documents are confidential, and we are sure that after the court looks into them, it will still make a stand like the one we made,” he said.
Chilima is answering the charge of influencing the awarding of public contracts by allegedly demanding and accepting money from United Kingdom-based Zuneth Sattar.
