While Kasambara got bail his co-defendants Pika Manondo and MacDonald Kumwembe did not and are still serving their 15-year sentences on the same charge...
His two accomplices Pika Manondo and Macdonald Kumwembe were convicted of attempted murder...
His co-accused Pika Manondo and former soldier Macdonald Kumwembe were each gaoled for eleven years for conspiracy to murder and a further 15 years for attempted murder...
Kasambara and two others business associate Pika Manondo and former soldier Macdonald Kumwembe were convicted of conspiracy to murder National Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo on 13 September 2013 and the last two of attempted murder (AC Vol 54 No 21 Shooting triggers reshuffle)...
He had a reputation for hanging out with disreputable types on the criminal fringes of whom his co-accused in the trial over the attack on Mphwiyo Macdonald Kumwembe and Pika Manondo were prime examples (see Feature Unending flow of Cashgate)...
He had insinuated that Supreme Court Justice Michael Charles Mtambo who had found that Kumwembe and his colleague Pika Manondo had cases to answer for attempted murder alongside Kasambara was a thief...
His story is supported by Pika Manondo who acted as courier between the pair...
Mphwiyo takes the standYet much fascinating evidence is emerging in the trial of Banda's Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara his friend Pika Manondo and others for the attempted murder of the Director of National Budget at the Finance Ministry Paul Mphwiyo who was shot last September (AC Vol 54 No 24 Political class in turmoil)...
Ralph Kasambara who was Justice Minister in October is now in custody charged in conjunction with his associate Pika Manondo with the attempted murder of Mphwiyo...
Oswald Lutepo accused as one of the main actors in the affair handed himself in to police on 6 November and Pika Manondo followed suit on 7 November giving himself up at the border with Tanzania...
