Vice President Saulos Chilima has said he cannot comment on court proceedings in the United Kingdom where he has been named as one of the Malawi Government officials to have benefitted from alleged dubious dealings of United Kingdom based businessperson Zuneth Sattar.
Chilima who is in Mzimba to inspect Public Sector Reform projects was asked by journalists to comment on allegations that he is one of the persons who received money from Sattar.
“I cannot comment on the matter. Let processes be the way they should,” Chilima said.
Sattar is accused of bribing government officials to get multibillion contracts at Malawi Police, Malawi Defence Force and Immigration Departments.
He is also accused of stealing from taxpayers by charging exorbitant prices. According to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), Sattar supplied to Malawi Police bottled water at K1800 per bottle when the actual cost in Malawi is about K200 per bottle.
It was argued that Sattar was overpricing items because he was using the proceeds to give bribes to officials.
Sattar in his defence claimed that all he was doing was business with profits.
Officials named by the NCA in court include State House Chief of Staff Prince Kapondamgaga, Minister of Youth Richard Chimwendo, and Malawi Police Inspector General George Kainja.
Chairperson of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority John Suzi Banda and former Anti-Corruption Bureau director general Reyneck Matemba were also named.
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All in all. Where there is smoke there is fire. Something is not right here.