By Chisomo Phiri
Wapona Kita, one of the defence lawyers, in a case in which former Minister of Energy Newton Kambala and others are accused of attempting to influence awarding of fuel contracts on Wednesday demonstrated in court that former National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) Helen Buluma’s phone was tampered with while in the hands of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Kita, while cross- examining Buluma in court produced photos of Buluma’s iPhone 11 that he took when defence team inspected the phone on February 15, 2022.
He said the photos show that the contents of the phone then, in particular the recordings , are different from what is in the phone now.
“The photos show that by then the phone had 53 recordings while the phone now has only three recordings.
“The photos also show that recently deleted recordings were two by then but on the handset now there is nothing on deleted items.
“The photos also show that there was no folder named Case NOCMA by the time of inspection but now on the phone there inis that folder,” said Kita.
He added:”We are wasting each other’s time. What is clear is that your phone has been tampered with.”
In her response, Buluma could not say anything on the tampering of the phone but only said that the phone was surrendered to the Bureau in September 2021.
Kita also produced a photo of a simcard that the phone had in February 2022.
The simcard looked different from the simcard that is in the phone now.
Buluma then conceded that the contents were indeed different.
The other accused in the case are Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) President Enoch Chihana and former Presidential advisor Chris Chaima Banda.
They were arrested by the ACB in August 2021 before releasing them on bail.
