Cashgate: Soko to Face His Fate on Thursday Next Week

Senior Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe is expected on Thursday next week 13^th November to pass sentence to a Deputy Director of Youth for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Wyson Zinyemba Soko whose crime is connected to cashgate.

Soko is a third cashgate convict after conviction and sentencing of former Principle Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Tressa Namathanga Senzani to three years and nine month imprisonment. And Patrick Victor Sithole a former Accounts Assistant on Tuesday this week was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment both on cashgate cases.

Soko a businessman who owns Wymbaso General Suppliers was found guilty and convicted of Money Laundering and Theft of K40.953 million which is 0.2% of total money stolen from cashgate scam.

The third cashgate convict is expected to be sentenced on Thursday afternoon following sentencing submissions made on Friday in the chamber of Senior Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa.

After submissions the defense lawyer Henry Kadzakumanja declined to reveal what was submitted to the court. The lawyer said he fears that revealing their mitigation factors to members of Press would encourage wrong judgments by the general public which in turn would influence the Magistrate’s decision when passing the sentence.

“We don’t want comments from the media, because we have observed that there are a lot of comments in the media and these Magistrates or Judges are human beings they read these things and that might influence the decision” he said

However the State Prosecutor Sam M’bweza said they are to respond by Wednesday next week to submissions made by the defense. He said the state has requested for ample time to look at health documents of the accused submitted by the defense to the court as part of mitigation factors.

After the response by the state on Wednesday next week both lawyers confirmed that on Thursday 13 November at 13:30 hours, Senior Resident Magistrate Chirwa will pass Judgment to Soko.

Currently Wyson Zinyemba Soko is on remand pending sentence on Thursday next week.

The accused still denies the ownership of the money. In previous proceedings he testified in the court that the money in question belongs to Godfrey Banda whom he declined to reveal his identity.

Soko said it is a responsibility of the state to investigate and find who that Godfrey Banda is.

According to a Baker Tilly Audit into Cashgate report, Soko through his company withdrew government money among them was cheque number 16780, dated 16/08/2013 signed by public officers Clemence Madzi, Auzius Kazombo Mwale and Roosevelt Ndovi. He was paid without evidence of rendering any service to government.

His business, Wymbaso General Suppliers is also among 14 businesses included in a Baker Tilly cashgate audit report category where Commercial banks were unable to locate cheque images or supporting documents for high value receipts and payments. The report indicates that though the audit team arranged for subpoena’s requesting all necessary financial information to be provided by the commercial banks and requested cheque images (front and back) for all payments made following the deposit of the Government of Malawi cheques, not all of this information could be provided for example by Standard Bank transaction with Wymbaso General Suppliers regarding MK2, 000,000 payment.