Nsanje Third Grade Magistrate court Wednesday ruled that two suspects who are being accused of stealing Malawi Electoral Commission's HP photographic printer meant for voter registration exercise have a case to answer.

Presiding over the case, Magistrate George Chimombo denied bail to the two suspects arguing it was hard for the court to trust people who were in the district temporarily. The magistrate postponed the case to August 7 for judgment.

"The suspects have no permanent homes in Nsanje therefore it will be hard for the court to trust them," said the magistrate.

The court heard that the suspects, Felleziano Nazombe, 41 and John Nyankuwa, 41 who were assigned by MEC as Camera Operator and Quality Control Manager respectively were arrested on Sunday July 21, 2013 for allegedly stealing the printer worth MK250, 000.

Both suspects testified that they were given the equipment at 11pm of Saturday, July 20 where the light was not enough claiming they were not given enough time and space to verify the items.

"The technicians surrendered the items to us while they were still packed. They told us to verify the equipment on our own. Worse still, the security officers who were assigned to work with us were not around.

"After realizing that the box had no printer, we reported to the technicians the same night only to be told that we were supposed to inform the police. This surprised us because several people reported a number of items that went missing and the items were replaced," he said.

Detective Inspector Kennedy Kaufulu told the court that Police were present during the time of the incident but they denied to have had control over the security claiming they were waiting for deployment to registration centers.

"It was reported to us that the two suspects chose to unpack their equipment in front of the car where there was not enough light instead of unloading the items right at the back of the vehicle where the distribution was done,"

State witnesses, Daniel Banda and Alex Zingwangwa who were deployed as technicians told the court all the items were presented to them but the accused did not sign because there was a camera which they were yet to receive. The witnesses however, failed to mention the serial number of the printer saying they depended on the suspects to give them information.

"It took them twenty minutes before presenting their complaint to us that is why we suspected foul play because it takes a few seconds to open and verify the contents of the box," said Zingwangwa.

Meanwhile, the two are accused of theft contrary to section 278 of the Penal Code.

Nazombe hails from Namphungo Village, Traditional Authority Juma in Mulanje whereas Nyankuwa comes from Matibili Village, T/A Mduwa in Mchinji.