Nyirenda
Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda has refused to recuse himself from the corruption case involving former Malawi Police chief George Kainja who is alleged to have received bribes from business tycoon Zuneth Sattar.
About two weeks ago, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) asked Nyirenda to recuse himself from the case in which Kainja applied for a judicial review to stop ACB from prosecuting him and others of corruption charges relating to Sattar.
ACB argued that Nyirenda is a “conflicted” person to handle the case with credibility
However, Nyirenda has dismissed the ACB’s application with costs, saying the bureau failed to make a case for his recusal.
Kainja was arrested together with Deputy Commissioner of Police Mwabi Kaluba in June in relation to US$7,875,000 (about K8 billion) tender awarded to Sattar after pocketing kickbacks. Kainja is alleged to have received a vehicle and US$8,000 (about K8 million) from the Leicester based Sattar.
In his application for judicial review of his case, Kainja argued that ACB cannot prosecute him using evidence generated jointly with UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
In June this year, the Supreme Court 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. The court made the ruling when former Lands and Housing Minister Kezzie Msukwa and Sattar’s associate, Ashok Nair, had filed for similar application.
Earlier this year, the ACB submitted a report to President Lazarus Chakwera in which it mentioned public officers who are alleged to have received bribes from Sattar who is accused of defrauding government through procurement contracts. The ACB report said some members of the judiciary are among those captured by business tycoon Sattar.
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