The Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe has granted bail to Democratic Progressive Party vice president for the Central Region, Alfred Gangata, who was arrested for allegedly possessing an illegally obtained Malawi School Certificate of Education.
In his ruling, Chief Resident Magistrate Austin Banda faulted the police for unnecessarily transferring the accused from the court to Nkukula Magistrate’s Court in Lumbadzi and back to the Lilongwe court.
Banda said that the police’s actions were embarrassing to the court and had the potential to erode public trust in the judiciary.
Gangata has been released on bail under conditions related to his separate tax fraud case, where he is accused of presenting a falsified Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) document.
The court has however made additional stipulations to the bail conditions; the court will review the two surities from the other case, Gangata will also have to be reporting to police apart from MRA, or the two institutions will have to liaise that the suspect should be reporting to one office. He will have to also pay another K1 million cash bond.
