A court in Lilongwe has denied bail to Socialite Dorothy Shonga and her business partner Collins Magalasi who is also the Chief Eexecutive Officer of Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA).
The two together with MERA spokesperson Patrick Maulidi are answering charges of fraud, money laundering and entering into procurement with an employee.
They applied for bail but the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court has rejected the application saying the suspects may influence witnesses in the case.
The suspects have since been remanded to prison for seven days to allow the state state to finish investigations.
Magalasi and Maulidi were arrested on Monday while Shonga was arrested on Tuesday last week.
Shonga is Magalasi’s business partner and together they reportedly own DC Brand Cloud.
The state accuses Magalasi, Maulidi and Shonga of forcing the MERA Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee to award a contract worth K107 million to Vink Enterprise which is owned by Shonga. The crime was committed in August 2019.
Shonga describes herself as a self-made millionaire saying she made her riches while working on the campaign of Zambia’s President, Edgar Lungu.H
