Former Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha has applied for discharge of a case that he is answering alongside former Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor Dalitso Kabambe regarding giving false information to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The two accused are answering two counts of abuse of office and fraudulent false accounting in relation to $108 million (K110, 123, 604, 000) extended credit facility which the IMF cancelled.

Making her application before Chief Resident Magistrate Chimwemwe Chimwaza, Mwanamvekha’s lawyer Mercy Chijere said the application has been made because the State has failed to comply with court directions on serving disclosures.

She added that the State was supposed to serve the disclosures by February 7 this year.

Said Chijere: “The State has failed to comply with the court’s directions on the service of disclosures so we were asking the court that they should discharge the first accused person so that the State should complete their investigations and then re-commence the proceedings if they so desire.”

However, the State through Senior State Advocate Festus Sakanda objected to the application to discharge Mwanamvekha citing that the investigations into the matter were ready as of yesterday.

Sakanda has since asked court for three more days to file disclosures and serve the defense.

However defense complained that it is not the first time for the State to indicate that it was done with the investigations arguing that in December last year, the State also said the investigations had been completed.

Magistrate Chimwaza has since reserved her ruling on the application to July 13, 2022.