MALAWI VICE PRESIDENT CHILIMA ARRESTED BY ANTI-CORRUPTION BUREAU

Fri 25 November 2022:

The Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau has detained Vice President Saulos Chilima on suspicion of corruption.

According to a statement from the ACB, Chilima is suspected of collecting cash as well as other items in exchange for approving government contracts.

The corruption monitor noted that the vice president would be taken to court and charged with, among other things, three counts of corrupt conduct by a public officer.

Chilima’s supporters and the police appeared to be fighting in video from the local media as he was being led into court for the formal reading of the charges.

“I have no comment to make. We will let the court process run its course,” Chilima told reporters outside court after being granted bail, according to media.

The ACB statement said Chilima was rewarded for assisting Xaviar Limited and Malachitte FZE, two companies linked to British businessman Zuneth Sattar, to win contracts.

The ACB arrested Chilima “on allegation that between March 2021 and October 2021, he received advantage in form of money” amounting to $280,000 and other items “from Zuneth Sattar as a reward”, its statement said.

President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi disbanded his whole government earlier this year after accusations of corruption against three serving ministers. 53 public officials are accused of accepting money from Sattar between March and October 2021 in this investigation, which has already resulted in the arrest of a number of ministers and former ministers.

Chilima was deprived of all authority by Chakwera in June of this year after the ACB first named him in connection with corruption allegations. Since Chilima was an elected official, the president was not permitted to suspend or dismiss him under Malawi’s constitution.

Chilima and Chakwera collaborated to win the rerun of the presidential election in 2020, triumphing on a platform of anti-corruption.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent