A former Director of Finance at District Assembly office has been sentenced to serve two and half years in prison after Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court found him guilty of misappropriation of K6, 227, 500 (Six million Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Thousand Five Hundred Kwacha) in the year 2010.
Leonard Kishombe aged 40 from Mpondaliwonga village of T/A Chikowi in Zomba was arrested in 2010 while working as a Director of Finance at Lilongwe District Assembly.
He was being accused of misappropriating K6, 227, 500 million meant to pay chiefs in the district as Honoraria.
The charge sheet indicates that Kishombe on 5th February 2010 cashed a cheque of amount in question from assembly's account so that the assembly should pay chief's. However, he used the money for personal issues and was not able to explain where the money went to.
He was charged with Theft by Servant contrary to section 286 (1) of penal code and has been on the bail since 2010.
Since last week, the case commenced at Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court and he was found guilty of the offense.
Before passing sentence, Kishombe asked the court to be lenient saying he has a family that depend on him and that he has illness. He went on to ask the court to consider the fact that the state stalled the proceedings of the matter in court for almost five years.
However, Police prosecutor Constable Mphatso Band said the convict being government employee serving position of trust had bleached the trust by embezling government money meant for honoraria for chiefs. The Prosecutor further mentioned that since the theft was done government never recovered the lost money therefore deserve a stiffer punishment.
Chief Resident Magistrate Ruth Chinangwa in the verdict agreed with prosecutor saying the accused be given a custodial sentence because he committed a serious offense which if he had committed it recent years, could have been equal to cash gate.
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