Ruling on Bingu’s vehicles next month#Malawi THE High Court in Blantyre has set July 18, 2013 as a date it will deliver its ruling on an application for judicial review in a case in which the family of former President Bingu wa Mutharika, is challenging a decision by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), to seize 41 motor vehicles the late president purchased duty free while in power. Speaking during the hearing on the judicial review Thursday Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu said he needed ample time to carefully study arguments and counter arguments presented before him by the two parties in the case to make a proper determination on the matter. He confessed the ruling on the judicial review before him was very crucial as it hinges on the rights of persons who are, have or will occupy the highest office of President of the republic. “I need to understand and get your facts properly on this matter. This is not a simple matter, this is not just about the late President, because I still have Joyce Banda, I still have Bakili Muluzi and others who will occupy the office of president and the decision I am going to make in this case will hinge on their rights and how we have to move forward as a nation,” Mwaungulu told lawyers representing the Mutharikas and MRA in the case. During the proceeding in court yesterday, lawyer for the Mutharikas, Chancy Gondwe asked the court to quash a decision by the MRA Commissioner General to seize the 41 motor vehicles on the basis of unpaid customs duty and involuntary disposal of the said vehicles by the late president as claimed by MRA. He, among other issues, faulted the process in which the Commissioner General and MRA moved to enforce payment of duty on the said vehicles from the Mutharika’s arguing the letter of demand were given to wrong people. “As far as we are concerned, there is no voluntary or involuntary disposal of the vehicles. As we stand today the vehicles are intact. Since there is no disposal of the vehicles matters of custom duty do not arise at this stage,” Gondwe told the court. But lawyer for MRA Christopher Likomwa dismissed Gondwe’s claims and asked the court to throw out the application on the basis that the tax body acted within the law when demanding customs duty on the vehicles. He insisted the person who was entitled to the privilege on the vehicles is no longer there and any other person using property that was cleared by the former president for personal use is illegally using the property. “What happened is involuntary disposal of the vehicles. Disposal happens by cause of death, gift or sale,” Likomwa maintained. He faulted the Mutharika’s for rushing to the courts and seeking judicial review when there were other alternative remedies available to sort the matter with the tax administrator. The court battle comes after MRA wrote a letter to late president young brother, Peter, on October 23, 2012, demanding customs duty on the said vehicles. But Peter, the late president’s wife Callista and his daughter Tapiwa rushed to court and obtained an injunction restraining MRA from effecting their decision. –By Chikondi Juma
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 12:50:15 +0000
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