A PROMINENT Arusha lawyer, Advocate Medium Mwale, landed in court on Tuesday charged with 13 counts of money laundering and amassing a large amount of money suspected to have been ill-gotten.
Before Resident Magistrate Charles Magessa, he pleaded "not guilty" to the charges. Mwale is represented by advocate Loom Ojare.
The court was also told of the accused lawyer's recent spending spree, including the buying of posh cars such as a Land-Rover Discovery SUV and a BMW within short intervals of time.
The State Attorney, Ms Vitalis Mlau, told the court that he would consult the police again in reviewing the charges against Mwale.
The prominent lawyer, famous for major cases including robberies, was being held in police custody since August 2, following his arrest by Interpol here.
Mwale refused to talk to the media as he was leaving from the court.
He is the defence advocate of an armed robbery case in which seven accused persons, two Kenyans and five Tanzanians are accused of breaking into the National Micro-Finance Bank, Mwanga Branch and stealing at gun point 243,260,000/- on July 11, 2007.
He is also representing the accused in an armed robbery case in which ten Kenyan nationals are alleged to have broken open the vaults of the National Bank of Commerce, Moshi Branch and grabbed 5.4bn/- in May 21, 2004.
Furthermore, Mwale is a defence advocate in an economic sabotage case in which a Pakistan national, a Kenyan national, in collusion with four Tanzanians are alleged to have attempted to smuggle live wild animals to a Middle East destination recently.
Earlier yesterday, the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Robert Manumba, told this newspaper that police were going on with investigations against Mwale.
The Country's Head of Interpol, Mr Hussein Laizer, and the Arusha Regional Police Commander (RPC), Mr Thobias Andengenye, declined to comment on the matter saying it was being handled by the DCI.
"He appeared in court today but I am not in a position to comment on the matter as it is being handled by police headquarters," said Mr Andengenye.
Earlier reports have it that Mwale was found with 20m/- in cash in his luxurious, Cadillac Escalade vehicle, whereas his bank account had 30bn/-.
Police are investigating the possibilities that the Cadillac owned by the lawyer was also ill-gotten.
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