The Chief Resident Court sitting in Blantyre has accused the State of what it termed “match-fixing” in the way it handled the bail application by a South African fugitive, Willie Steenkamp who arrived in the country last year as an investor using the name Dr. William Bilderberg.
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 Bilderberg, who faces extradition, is no longer a flight risk.
However, this did not go well with Chief Resident Magistrate Chisomo Msokera rejecting the application while condemning the State and Bilderberg’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.
