By Chisomo Phiri
The Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe has on Wednesday acquitted former Roads Authority(RA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Trevor Hiwa who was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2017 on charges of abuse of office and failure to declare interest.
Hiwa was accused to have recommended Infracon Limited to be awarded a World Bank contract worth $303,823 for the design and supervision of various road construction projects in the central and southern regions of Malawi without the approval of Internal Procurement Committee and without declaring interest that the company belonged to his family.
Delivering her ruling, Judge Violet Chipao acquitted Hiwa on grounds that the state failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
On his part,defense lawyer Khumbo Soko expressed excitement over the acquittal saying it ends a nightmare that has taken seven long years for Hiwa and the legal team.
“After hearing from 15 state witnesses and the defendant in his own defense, the court found that the state has failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt and that the key witness for the state could not be believed when he was saying it was Hiwa who recommended the name Infracon limited to be single sourced,” Soko said.
On the other hand,the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) chief legal and prosecutions officer Imran Saidi said the ACB will make its position known after going through the judgement.
