Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Chipofya has dismissed an application to discharge businessman Abdul Karim Batatawala and three others in fraud and money laundering related cases they are answering.
The four accused through their lawyers asked the court this morning to discharge them on grounds that the Anti-Corruption Bureau is not ready to prosecute.
Batatawala’s lawyer Henry Duncan Phoya SC, told the court that the ACB failed to comply with a court order to serve them with disclosures by 10th February, 2022 among other grounds for discharge.
Magistrate Chipofya, however, in his ruling said that the ACB Director General, Martha Chizuma, has demonstrated the bureau’s commitment to prosecute the case by, among other things, making available to court the prosecution team which she is leading.
The court has since given the ACB until 31 March, 2022 to serve the defence with the disclosures before trial starts on 25 April, 2022.
