{"id":14354,"date":"2022-01-23T18:24:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T18:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty"},"modified":"2022-01-23T19:02:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T19:02:43","slug":"batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty","title":{"rendered":"Batatawala, others plead not guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services former director general Elvis Thodi, the department\u2019s commissioner for operations Fletcher Nyirenda and deputy director Limbani Chawinga have pleaded not guilty to all charges bordering on corruption and money laundering they are facing.<\/p>\n

Batatawala\u2019s lawyer Alex Nampota wanted the court to suspend plea-taking until the defence was served with all disclosures but the State objected to the application and Blantyre Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Chipofya dismissed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe accused persons can therefore take plea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After plea-taking, Chipofya gave the State up to February 10 to give the defence all the disclosures and 14 days for the defence to respond before the court convenes again on February 28 for scheduling.<\/p>\n

The four were arrested in respect to the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services\u2019 uniform procurement deal in 2012. Chipofya noted that full disclosures could be given even after the four have taken plea.<\/p>\n

Batatawala was released on bail on December 21 after paying K800,000 cash bond and producing one surety bonded at K2.5 million non-cash. He was also told to surrender his passport and travel documents and that he must present himself to Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) offices fortnightly on Friday.<\/p>\n

Batatawala was also told not to travel outside Blantyre without ACB officials\u2019 knowledge and that if he needed medical treatment outside Malawi, ACB\u2019s independent doctors must be allowed to assess him.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services former director general Elvis Thodi, the department\u2019s commissioner for operations Fletcher Nyirenda and deputy director Limbani Chawinga have pleaded not guilty to all charges bordering on corruption and money laundering they are facing. Batatawala\u2019s lawyer Alex Nampota wanted the court to suspend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,9],"tags":[233,371,339,3928,234],"class_list":["post-14354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-anti-corruption-bureau","tag-department-of-immigration-and-citizen-services","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nBatatawala, others plead not guilty - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services former director general Elvis Tho ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Batatawala, others plead not guilty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services former director general Elvis Tho ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-23T18:24:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-23T19:02:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/img-61eda62e883ce.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"856\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Batatawala, others plead not guilty\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-23T18:24:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-23T19:02:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\"},\"wordCount\":249,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/img-61eda62e883ce.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Anti Corruption Bureau\",\"Department of Immigration and Citizen Services\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/batatawala-others-plead-not-guilty\",\"name\":\"Batatawala, others plead not guilty - 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