The Malawi Government has won a case in which it sued businessperson Zameer Karim for K2.3 billion over the police food rations contract.
Malawi High Court Commercial Division Judge Annabel Mtalimanja delivered the ruling on November 13.
The money is a refund of the K2.3 billion which government paid to CDH Investment Bank Limited in connection to the food rations contract.
Karim was hired by Malawi Police to supply food rations in a K2.1 billion contract but he did not have sufficient funds so he borrowed K700 million from CDH Bank using government guarantee.
However, the proceeds of the contract were paid directly to Karim and he did not repay the loan to CHD Bank.
The bank in 2017 sued Malawi Government for K2.3 billion. The amount which government paid included the loan Karim obtained from the bank, interest and some collection fees.
Having paid money to Karim and the Bank, the Malawi government realized that it had paid double for the same contract and dragged Karim to court.
“So, ideally, it appeared like double payment because Zameer Karim was already paid and then instead of him paying CDH Investment Bank, the bank sued us [government] to pay them and a judgement was made to that effect.
“We had sued Karim to pay back the money and the court has awarded us our claim,” said Senior State Advocate Pilirani Masanjala.
Karim was arrested and granted bail in 2018 in relation to the food rations case.
He was also arrested last week for attempting to obtain a K850 million loan from EcoBank using a guarantee which he claimed to have obtained from Malawi Police.
Karim together with Eco Bank’s Victoria Chanza reportedly presented to the bank a notice purportedly from the Malawi Police in which the police promised to directly pay EcoBank K850 million as proceeds of a contract between police and Karim’s company called Oil and Protein Company Limited.
The two who are currently on bail are facing charges of uttering false documents and fraud.
