Norman Chisale, the former bodyguard to ex-President Peter Mutharika, faces the mounting pressures of a momentous criminal trial which has been committed to the specialized Financial Crimes Court (FCC).
Chisale had been under binoculars of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) who had been investigating his mysterious wealth. The ACB has centered its investigation on Chisale’s seemingly inexplicable accumulation of riches during his short three-year stint as a civil servant in the elite confines of the State House.
The ACB investigations, according to prosecutors handling his file, has yielded a wealth of evidence setting the ground ready for prosecution.
Whilst the ACB was undertaking the investigations into his wealth’s origins, a civil matter against Chisale’s unexplained wealth was ongoing as the Attorney General moved the court to allow government to recover the property that Chisale is said to have corruptly accumulated.
In 2021, the government had obtained a preservation order whose aim was to lock Chisale out from accessing or using the money and property which were under investigations for possible financial crimes.
Chisale unsuccessfully attempted to retain access to the frozen property by applying for a stay on the civil proceedings which aimed to recover what the government claims to be corruptly procured wealth.
He eventually escalated his application to the Supreme Court requesting for the setting aside of his civil proceedings and further requested the court to declare that his matter is a constitutional case which must be heard before a constitutional court.
While Chisale was hoping for the court to earmark his case as a constitutional matter and proceed to set aside the civil proceedings which were before the High Court, thereby giving him a leeway to access his frozen assets, the Supreme Court of Appeal’s Justice Ivy Kamanga, who heard the application delivered to Chisale a bitter pill: In a ruling that was delivered in December last year, Justice Kamanga dismissed Chisale’s request for a stay and instead referred the constitutional aspects of his case to the Chief Justice to make a determination on whether his civil matter amounted to constitutional case or not.
Meanwhile, the ACB has confirmed readiness for prosecution of Chisale’s criminal case as the court committed the matter for trial at the Finacial Crimes Court. With Chisale’s criminal case being committed to the Financial Crimes Court, his case now joins the ranks of business mogul Leston Mulli who is embroiled in a K30 billion fraud case that has also been committed to the Financial Crimes Court.
