Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri is salivating at the prospect of quizzing state witnesses from South Africa in his fight against extradition from Malawi to stand trial here.
Bushiri, the leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, and his family fled South Africa in 2020 for his home country after being released on R200,000 bail by the Pretoria magistrate’s court. He and his wife Mary were facing charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with a multimillion-rand investment scheme. A warrant for his arrest and extradition request was filed in South Africa.
This week Bushiri successfully appealed a previous Lilongwe court ruling that permitted virtual testimony “where there are satisfactory grounds”, with the high court ordering South African witnesses to appear in court in person.
Taking to his social media platforms, Bushiri hailed this as a “milestone victory for us”.
“The high court in Malawi has ruled that witnesses, to be specific those who arrested us and recorded cases against us (investigators), be physically present in Malawi for cross-examination by our lawyers.
“When we came to Malawi we spoke about how unfairly we were being treated in South Africa.
“We welcome this fair ruling and we look forward to meeting them in court, where we will exercise our right to cross-examine them.”
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‘Looking forward to questioning you’: Shepherd Bushiri to SA state witnesses
Image: INSTAGRAM
Self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri is salivating at the prospect of quizzing state witnesses from South Africa in his fight against extradition from Malawi to stand trial here.
Bushiri, the leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, and his family fled South Africa in 2020 for his home country after being released on R200,000 bail by the Pretoria magistrate’s court. He and his wife Mary were facing charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with a multimillion-rand investment scheme. A warrant for his arrest and extradition request was filed in South Africa.
This week Bushiri successfully appealed a previous Lilongwe court ruling that permitted virtual testimony “where there are satisfactory grounds”, with the high court ordering South African witnesses to appear in court in person.
Taking to his social media platforms, Bushiri hailed this as a “milestone victory for us”.
“The high court in Malawi has ruled that witnesses, to be specific those who arrested us and recorded cases against us (investigators), be physically present in Malawi for cross-examination by our lawyers.
“When we came to Malawi we spoke about how unfairly we were being treated in South Africa.
“We welcome this fair ruling and we look forward to meeting them in court, where we will exercise our right to cross-examine them.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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