The High Court in Blantyre has dismissed an application for bail by jailed ex Justice Minister Raphael Kasambara and his co-convicts: Macdonald Kumwembe and Pika Manondo for an appeal of their conviction on charges that came in line with the shooting of former budget director Paul Mphwiyo in 2013.
Earlier on, the court convicted Kumwembe and Manondo were charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.
It then convicted Kasambara of the charge of conspiracy to murder.
On August 30, Kasambara got a 13 year jail term while Manondo and Kumwembe got 26 years(15 years for attempted murder and 11 years for conspiracy to murder).
In his ruling dated October 3, 2016 Justice Michael Mtambo said that the burden to prove exceptional and unusual circumstances warranting release on bail is on the applicants.
The judge said that he agrees with the State that the matters listed by the applicants are not relevant considerations at the stage the case is.
“Consequently, no unusual or exceptional circumstances have been established by the applicants. I, therefore, dismiss the application for bail pending appeal,” reads the ruling.
According to the judgement, some of the reasons the applicants cited are that the granting of bail pending appeal would not prejudice the State.
“That they have ascertainable locations within Malawi, and that the third convict [Kasambara] has an impeccable personal record both in public and private life. No evidence has been adduced about the character of the third accused. From his conduct during the trial, he did not display any impeccable conduct,” reads the ruling in part.
But after the conviction of the three, the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) had expressed satisfaction with the sentence handed to three convicts over their role in the attempted murder of former budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
It was widely believed that Mphwiyo’s shooting was linked to a fallout among corrupt officials who were exploiting loopholes in former President Joyce Banda’s government accounting system to siphon off vast sums of public money in a syndicate popularly known cashgate.
Subsequent days led to a lot of civil servants being found with huge sums of money lacking proper documentation on how they got the money.
The scandal started when an accounts assistant in the Ministry of Environment, Victor Sithole, was found with huge amounts of money not in consistence with his monthly income.
This was later compounded with the shooting of the former budget director on September 13, 2013.
Kani jail sentence-so imakhala ndi bail?
Koma Amayi aja achina Treza ndie kuwatulusa mwati akuonsa khalidwe labwino pamene mwapanganawo zadama koma ziwani ichi mwamuna nzako ndipachulu muzaziona anthu akuba inu
Vuto lodzitenga ngati odziwa yekha malamulo the whole world ya Malawi ndi zimenezi,chaka chino wadziwanso kuti kuli anzakenso owatsata kuposa iye.Khala ndi khalidwe labwino mwina nawe adzakutaya ngati Masteni aja
Akapysala mwanya naokaletu unyolo???kkkkkkk musoumah kkkk
Koma Makama tinene kuti anayambana naye chiyani Kambala a Myambowa. Zodabwitsa bwanji and our system is not good ndekuti bail akufunika kumakatenganso kwa munthu yemweyu kani
Bail yachiyaniso inu Akasambala kufuna kutchuka basi Tabakhalani kumeneko mwina mudzachita mwayi muka onetsa khalidwe labwino ngati Mayi waja atuluka ku Maura aja
Tipindulanji ngakhale mukuwakaniza bail.Akanakhala azimai mutawataya.
Nanga watuluka bwanji hule wina uja
Mwina sakuonetsa Good character.
Akayamba kuonetsa good character awataya.
Wophanzake atani kodi
wina anabankhuku panopa chakachino chafaifi palimande
Yhoo! Yhoo! Dziko fever…
Zawavuta
Kuma ona kose kose ameneyu no bail kuseli kwa page imeneyi kuliso mbala za cashgate zoso no bail kutuluka tiwa otcha anthu amenewa
Bail Imakhalanso ndi zifukwa zokwanira kkkk-k
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkk amenewa ndiye alibe nkhalidwe?
Nthawi ikwana atulukabe
prison is for the poor nt riches
But Kasambala is not poor.
sukudziwa kuti nzimayi anaba ndalama za cashgate amutulusa atangokhalako chaka chimodzi koma anaba ndalama zambili akuti ali ndi khalidwe labwino nanga osauka onsewa bwanji sakuatulusa
Soon we wil hear that he iz sent free for showng gud character.The fact is that prisons were built for poor there is no truth in thz world
Not truth, my brother. No justice. I wonder if our so called courts of justice are really just
ena mukuwatulusa ena akufuna bail mukuwakanila pomwe ena anaba ndalama za boma zoti zithandize amaliwi ifi tosemukuwatulusa pomwe ena amafuna atuluke kwa bail mukuwakanila why mukuziwa amene anayiba ndalama za boma naoso ndikupha kwakukulu anthufe tikuvutika ndi njila chifukwa chandalamazo anaba naoso ndikupha awo apha amalawi ambili akufa kamba ka njala zausilu boma lamalawi ndicho chifukwa chake mavuto sazatha pa malawi tikadali kuvutika ndi inu anthu amuboma mukutipha ndinu agalu inu mumatulusa anthu mundende zaka zaka zao zisanakwene mupasen bail kasambala ndalamazo mukatigulile chakudya tidye ife mbuzi za anthu inu
Good so lets go and get the lady that has been let loose by the corrupt prison authorities
Yes for real hey