By Mercy Matonga:
The third State witness in the unexplained wealth case involving former presidential bodyguard Norman Chisale told the court that Chisale purchased a total of 63 vehicles, valued at K407 million.
The witness, Ellenor Banda, who works at the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), started testifying in court Tuesday in the case where the State is requiring Chisale to explain how he acquired his wealth.
Banda, who is the Tax Evasion Manager at MRA, told the court that the Automated System for Customs Data showed Chisale purchased the vehicles between 2017 and 2019.
Chisale’s lawyer, Stanley Chirwa, asked the State to produce authenticated documents as evidence rather than system-generated documents.
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Later, High Court Judge in the Financial Division, Justice Violet Chipao, adjourned the case to today for the State to bring authenticated documents.
Speaking to journalists after the adjournment, Chirwa said that without authentication, it was difficult to verify whether the documents were genuine.
“In this regard, those documents should not have been brought to court in their original format. What was needed were copies, but there was also a need to know whether they were true copies of the original documents. Without that, it is difficult, especially in the times we are living in,” Chirwa said.
On his part, Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala said obtaining authenticated documents was not a problem.
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“We hoped that the documents taken from the MRA system would be acceptable, and we thought there was no problem using them. We don’t have a problem. On a good day, we can produce those documents in three hours,” Chamkakala said.
Chisale was arrested on July 12, 2020 on allegations that he accumulated wealth far beyond his legal means of earning money.
His listed assets include 86 motor vehicles and 21 real estate properties, including residential houses and commercial buildings.
