The principal resident magistrate Godfrey Balaka has granted bail to South African fugitive, Willie Steenkamp who arrived in the country last year as an investor using the name Dr. William Bilderberg.
After denying the fugitive bail four times, the chief resident magistrate Chisomo Msokera described the fourth attempt as resembling “match-fixing” in the way the State and defense handled the bail application.
In the recent ruling, Balaka granted bail to Steenkamp on condition that he pays K5 million cash bond, provide three sureties of K1 million non-cash bond each and surrender his travelling documents.
He further ordered the suspect to report to South West Police Region headquarters every Friday.
Before the ruling, the State through chief state advocate Josephine Gwaza notified the court that it has removed the money laundering count from the charge sheet.
Steenkamp lawyer Felix Tambulasi said following the removal of the money laundering count, the remaining three are minor.
The three counts are furnishing false information, illegal entry into Malawi and false declaration of a Malawian passport.
In the lower court, three times, the State objected to the bail application by the fugitive only to approve the same on the fourth time, citing the deletion of the Interpol alert on internet by Venezuela.
The State said Steenkamp, who faces extradition, is no longer a flight risk.
However, Msokera rejected the application while condemning the State and Steenkamp’s lawyers for trying to undermine justice, before he recused himself from the case.
“We must emphasize that public confidence in the authority of the court is undermined where the court is made to rubberstamp illogical decisions that do not reconcile with the law and the facts.
“This is why we refuse to take part in such an exercise. We refuse to be a referee that is blind to the interests of justice,” the magistrate said.
“We cannot help but marvel at how both the applicant and the State have reasoned and concluded that the applicant (Bilderberg) has ceased to be a flight risk.
“Before we conclude, we must express our concern with the way this application has been handled by the bar. We do not think the bar is incompetent.
“We think that the bar is deliberately putting the interests of the applicant ahead of the interests of justice. This is contrary to the counsel’s duty to the court. And it is more worrying when the prosecution decides to participate in such approach to the administration of justice,” read part of the ruling.
Upon arriving in the country with $20 million (about K23.6 billion) as an investor last year, Bilderberg was granted citizenship and a passport number MWA097282 was given to him on September 27, 2022.
A sworn statement by his lawyer Felix Tambulasi shows that Bilderberg (Steenkamp) was welcomed into the country in October last year by government officials through the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to invest in country as a Malawian.
It means Bilderberg (Steenkamp) was granted the citizenship and a local passport before he arrived in the country.
According to a security alert by Mike Bolhuis, Specialized Security Services providers, renowned for Wurban-scam, Bilderberg (Steenkamp) together with his partner Jacobus Johannes Christoffel Du Toit were a financial consultant and the head of an international investment company that promised investors massive returns.
However, the two disappeared with the investments made.
The sworn statement further said government later helped him establish his business, Bilderbert Company and later secure finances for the fugitive to start operating in Malawi.
