The administration of the incumbent Malawi President, Lazarus Chakwera, does not want to prosecute business tycoon Zuneth Sattar and his associates of corruption.
According to court documents published seen by the media, Chakwera is of the view that cases against alleged associates of Sattar are grounded on evidence generated by UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The court documents are for the case in which former Malawi Police Chief George Kainja wants the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to stop prosecuting him and others on corruption allegations relating to Sattar.
Kainja in the matter being heard by Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda wants court to declare that the evidence that the ACB is using in his case was obtained by the National Crimes Agency of the UK illegally; that the evidence was submitted to the ACB illegally by the NCA by bypassing the Attorney General; and that his arrest consequently is illegal.
Kainja has added the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steven Kayuni and the Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka in Nyirenda to the case.
According to Platform for Investigative in Journalism (PIJ), the DPP in response has supported Kainja’s arguments.
“And the DPP appears to agree with the skeleton arguments presented to the court. Kayuni through Senior State Advocate in the DPP’s chambers, Festas Sakanda, argues that Only those BIG THREE–Attorney General, DPP and ACB boss can enter into an agreement between Malawi and another state and that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is not a treaty,” PIJ reported.
According to PIJ, the DPP further argues: “That the Supreme Court of appeal issued a stay order stopping the first Defendant (ACB) from acting on the evidence gathered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau working hand in hand with the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom.”
However, Attorney General Thabo Chakaka in Nyirenda in his filings has described the decision to add the AG to the case on the basis that he is failing to supervise the ACB as absurd, vexations and embarrassing
In a similar case taken to court by former Lands and Housing Minister Kezzie Msukwa and Sattar’s associate, Ashok Nair, the Supreme Court in June this year ruled that the Anti-Corruption Bureau is at liberty to enter into cooperation, whether formal or informal, with any corresponding agencies in other jurisdictions as part of mutual assistance on criminal matters.
In June, the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested Kainja on allegations that he got a vehicle and US$8,000 (about K8 million) from Sattar to facilitate the K8 billion contract.
Sattar, 41, who is based in the UK was arrested in October last year and is being investigated by the UK’s National Crime Agency and Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau on allegations that he defrauded Malawi Government of tens of millions of dollars from deals to supply meal packs, water cannon, and other equipment to the country’s security forces. Sattar, who is yet to be charged, denies the allegations.
Its very embarrassing that as a country we are busy defending a thief whom in a normal way we could have exposed and prosecuted. It then means that corruption has won.