President Lazarus Chakwera’s administration war against corruption is far from being won as it has been caught with pants down shielding a corruption suspect Abdul Karim Batatawala a businessman of Asian Origin.
Batatawala, who is a darling of President Chakwera administration, was arrested last year on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the Malawi Government billions of tax payer’s money.
Days after the arrest, Batatawala was given a very ‘favorite’ and ‘Soft’ bail bond by Magistrate Martin Chipofya of Blantyre Senior Resident.
Among the bail conditions, Batawalala was ordered to pay a bail bond of MK800 000 and produce a surety of MK2.5 million non-cash bond, conditions very favorable not fit for a person suspected to have defraud Malawians billions.
Since the bail was granted, the office of the Director of the Public Prosecution (DPP) and the defence team have been playing delaying tactics to start prosecution the case, as a way of protecting Batatawala from going to prison.
Batatawala was arrested alongside three co-accused of conspiracy to defraud by inflating the market price of 500 lockers procured by the Immigration Department from Africa Commercial Agency under contract number IM/01/85 dated March 22 2010 valued at K2 950 560 per unit price totalling K1 475 280 000.