Africa-Press – Malawi. Foundation for Irrigation and Sustainable Development (FISD) Limited on Monday, March 21, 2022 asked the State to amend the charge sheet in the alleged double payment case and drop the company as part of the accused parties.
FISD lawyer Wapona Kita told the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court that the defence had reservations with the proposed amendment by the State to have the company take plea on the charges the company’s directors are answering.
The lawyer also raised concern with the State seeking an adjournment of the case on the basis that a witness, who was to appear before court yesterday, had failed to do so after his wife was taken ill.
Senior State advocate Pirirani Masanjala had told the court that the witness was his wife’s guardian; hence, was not in the right mind to testify. But Kita argued there was no evidence to back the reasons for seeking the adjournment. Masanjala said the State will have to discuss with the defence on the concerns raised in the proposed amendment.
The State had earlier sought an amendment of the charge sheet in the case in which four Fisd Limited directors Moses Chirambo, Frank Mwenechanya, Kondwani Nanchukwa and Arthur Mpama are suspected to have received double payment of US$325 731 (about MK268.7 million) from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for a project in Ntcheu.
Lilongwe senior resident magistrate Florence Msekandiana however cautioned the State to ensure that witnesses communicate in time when they have challenges. Msekandiwana therefore adjourned the case to May 18 2022.
Since the FISD directors were arrested, their case has “overly” delayed because the state had been asking for “more time” in order to prepare formal charges.
Formal charges came after more than four “unfruitful” appearances during which the state had asked for adjournments in order to “wind up” investigations.
The arrests came after industrial court faulted Malawi government through Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development for unfairly terminating a contract for FISD Limited Company under contract No. 021/SRWIHL/W/2017/015a-LOT 1 for the rehabilitation, and expansion of three gravity fed water systems in Ntcheu district.
The project is titled “Sustainable Rural Water Infrastructure for Improved Health and Rural Livelihoods Project”. The contract valued at MK2.4 billion commenced on December 12, 2017 and was supposed to complete on December 12, 2018.
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