Fresh directions for K20bn Bankgate case

The High Court in Blantyre yesterday issued fresh directions in the K20 billion Bankgate case, ordering that the case will continue from where it stopped.

This is a 2017 case where four commercial banks in the country were allegedly defrauded of at least K20.9 billion through loans obtained by a Pakistani national Abdul Rehman Abdulla, one of directors at Cotton Ginners Africa Limited (CGSL).

Nine accused persons are answering to the charges ranging from fraud to forgery and the matter is being prosecuted by State lawyers from Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

A new judge assigned to the case, Anneline Kanthambi, who took over from Justice Sylvester Kalembera after his promotion in June 2022 to the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, ordered that the court would proceed with the matter from where it stopped.

If the court had ordered fresh start of the trial, it would have meant recalling of witnesses who already testified.

The next dates of hearing for continuation of trial will be communicated by the court to the parties.

The banks that were hit by this alleged fraud are Standard Bank plc, Ecobank Malawi, National Bank of Malawi plc (NBM) and CDH Investiment Bank (CDHIB) and Export Development Fund (EDF), a government financing arm of exports.

Other accused persons are Mahomed Farook Ibrahim, Rizwana Abdul Rehman, Zarina Mahomed Faruk, Abdul Kader Patel, Mahomed Faizal Patel, Spencer Zinyemba, William Kumwenda and Wyson Tumba.

Masanjala: One of the State lawyers on the case