Samuel Madula faces 5 charges, Kennedy Nkhoma 4
Former principal secretary in the Ministry of Homeland Security Samuel Madula and the ministry’ s current PS Kennedy Nkhoma are expected to be charged with five and four counts respectively in relation to unlawful procurement for which they were arrested on Monday. The matter relates to a contract the ministry had with One Guard FZE between 2019 and 2020, in…
Former principal secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Homeland Security Samuel Madula and the ministry’s current PS Kennedy Nkhoma are expected to be charged with five and four counts respectively in relation to unlawful procurement for which they were arrested on Monday.
The matter relates to a contract the ministry had with One Guard FZE between 2019 and 2020, in which the two are accused of initiating unlawful procurement of Malawi Prison Service (MPS) uniforms and equipment at an exorbitant price.
That time, Madula was a PS while Nkhoma was a chief director in the ministry.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which arrested Nkhoma and Madula, brought them before the Senior Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe Tuesday where the counts were read out.
They have since been granted bail after an application by Madula’s lawyer in the matter, Manuel Theu.
“Investigations are over and we have no reason to hold on to the suspects,” ACB lawyer Benjamin Mandala said in response to the bail application.
Bail conditions included that each of the suspects pays a K1 million cash bond, bring to court two traceable sureties at a K10 million non-cash bond and surrender their travel documents.
Mandala told the court that ACB was yet to get consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The case has since been adjourned to August 22, 2022 when the two are expected to be formally charged if ACB gets the prosecution consent.
Madula faces counts as follows: three of abuse of public office, one of neglect of official duties and the last one of conspiracy to defraud the government.
Nkhoma, on the other hand, faces four counts: two of abuse of public office, one of neglect of official duties and another of conspiracy to defraud the government.
The two share the count of conspiracy to defraud the government with former minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi, who was on Friday arrested by the ACB and granted bail by the court the same day.
According to the charge sheet which we have seen, the three are being accused that between 2019 and 2020, they conspired to defraud the government by paying K12,075,391,516 to One Guard FZE.
The money was for the procurement of MPS uniforms and equipment which allegedly had an actual value of about K6.4 billion.
