By Cathy Maulidi:
Businessperson Alfred Gangata, who also serves as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice president for the Central Region, has applied to the court for the dismissal of the State’s case against him, citing legal irregularities.
Gangata was arrested in January this year for allegedly uttering a false document, purportedly from the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), regarding tax records.
He faces charges of falsifying tax records, forgery, uttering a false document and concluding a transaction without a tax clearance certificate.
Gangata, who pleaded not guilty, now seeks to have these charges dropped and further wants the court to discharge him due to alleged legal irregularities.
Through his lawyers yesterday, Gangata argued that the law mandates that certain offenses be tried within a specific timeframe and that they also provide that an accused person should be tried within that period.
He contends that the State took years to make an arrest after the alleged crime was committed.
“The law stipulates that a person should be charged when the case arises or within a reasonable time thereafter. This issue arose seven years ago, and according to the law, Mr. Gangata should have been charged within that initial period.
“We believe these offenses cannot be fairly tried now and, therefore, the case should be discontinued as it is statute-barred,” said Gangata’s lawyer, Zwelithini Chipembere.
Chipembere further said they could have loved to see their client receiving a fair trial, which they believe would now be impossible under the current circumstances.
“If someone is charged with these offences after such a significant delay, we believe they would not be afforded a fair trial,” Chipembere said.
However, the State disagreed with the defence’s arguments, saying that the charges were brought at the appropriate time because the State was in the process of gathering evidence before making arrests and bringing the matter to court.
State prosecutor Watson Chirwa also informed the court that by pleading not guilty, Gangata demonstrated his awareness of the matter and that it remained fresh in his mind.
“The charges against the accused person are not statute-barred under Section 261 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code,” Chirwa told the defence.
Principal Resident Magistrate Benjamin Chulu has reserved his ruling on the preliminary objection to April 15 at 9am.
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