Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court has ordered former presidential security aide Norman Chisale to enter plea in certificate forgery case and the matter go for full trial.
Chisale is answering two counts of impersonating a person named in a certificate
Chisale is answering two counts of impersonating a person named in a certificate and giving false information to a person employed in public service.
The charges date back to 1996 when ex-security aide to former president Peter Mutharika is said to have presented a Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) to Malawi Defence Force (MDF) when he sought employment.
Defence attorneys for Chisale comprising Gilbert Khonyongwa, Festino Maere and Chancy Gondwe, objected to their client taking plea on among other arguments that the State did not make full disclosures of the purported certificate that was altered and that it was not served to them as procedure demands.
But Senior resident magistrate Shyreen Chirwa rejected the preliminary objections and ordered that the matter should undergo full trial.
One of the State lawyers Steven Kayuni the State was ready with five witnesses to testify.
Other lawyers who represented the state included Pirirani Masanjala and Andre Salamba.