By Chisomo Phiri
The Lilongwe Magistrate Court has on Tuesday adjourned to a later date a case in which former Chief Executive Officer(CEO) for Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Collins Magalasi is accused of misprocurement of a fuel van.
The court decided to adjourn the case after it learnt that the accused is unwell.
The court was expected to start hearing defence witnesses after the state had finished parading witnesses in March this year.
In his comment, State Advocate, Dzikondianthu Malunda, expressed worry over the conduct of defence lawyers.
Malunda said failure to communicate in advance about the illness of their client after the case stalled for months is quite unfortunate.
He observed that the defence lawyers had all the time to advise the court in good time of the sickness of their client but chose not to.
Magalasi alongside former MERA Procurement Officer, Bright Mbewe, are accused of procuring a fuel testing van to the tune of K563.2 million but the vehicle was never delivered to MERA.
However, the High Court Judge, Patrick Chirwa, presiding in the magistrate court having been hearing the case before his promotion to the higher court came from Zomba to preside over the case.
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