The case in which former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo and 18 others are answering charges in relation to the looting of K2.4 billion has been adjourned to Tuesday next week.
Today, Judge Esmie Chombo was expected to deliver a ruling on whether the suspects have a case to answer.
Chombo, however, adjourned the case after two of the suspects failed to show up in court due to illness. According to Chombo, the judgment is important and cannot be pronounced in the absence of the suspects.
The 19 suspects are accused of stealing the money in what is popularly known as the cashgate scandal where civil servants and businessperson connived to siphon funds from the public purse.
The scandal unraveled in 2013 after Mphwiyo was shot at his home in Lilongwe.
Meanwhile, social commentator Onjezani Kenani has expressed concern over the pace of the case.
He wrote: “Today the judge was to decide whether or not Paul Mphwiyo et al have a case to answer – 7 years after being suspected of siphoning K2.4 billion from the Malawi government. As I keep saying, justice is slow for the rich. The case has been postponed yet again because two of the suspects did not show up.”
