The High Court of Malawi has restrained the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from summoning Vice-President Michael Usi to answer questions in relation to corruption allegations he has been making during his campaign rallies.
The court’s order follows Usi’s application without notice for permission to apply for judicial review against ACB acting director general Hilary Chilomba’s decision to invite him for questioning and to produce some documents related to his claims.
Usi, who is also Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu presidential candidate for the September 16 2025 General Election, among others argued that the decision by ACB to compel him to produce and furnish the bureau with original or certified copies of documents within 24 hours to support his corruption allegations is unreasonable and made in bad faith.
He further argued that Chilomba acted without lawful authority in issuing the said notice, saying his acting tenure expired.
Delivering the ruling yesterday, High Court Judge Redson Kapindu noted that while ACB has the authority to investigate corruption, it should not act as if Usi’s corruption allegation against some senior government officials has caused an emergency which the bureau needs to address within 24 hours.
Reads the ruling in part: “The decision of the defendant [ACB] that the information required herein be produced or furnished within 24 hours is hereby stayed for the duration of the official campaign period as prescribed under the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act.
“The court further directs that, in any event, should the defendant seek to pursue the notice herein upon expiry of the period of stay granted herein, the claimant should still be given a reasonable notice period.”
Kapindu further issued an order restraining ACB or any other law enforcement agency from gagging Usi from expressing himself on the matter through threats of commission of an offence for non-compliance with the said ACB notice during the official campaign period for the September 6 2025 General Election.
In a notice we have seen dated August 29 2025 and signed by Chilomba, ACB asked Usi to avail himself before the bureau’s officers at its offices in Lilongwe today at 2pm to answer questions in connection with an investigation it was conducting.
“The questions will focus on allegations of corruption by senior public officers that you have been making in public,” reads the notice in part.
About two weeks ago, Usi vowed to continue denouncing corruption in government.
He said: “I don’t regret condemning corruption in government. I will continue condemning corruption in government and elsewhere because corruption is the evil that has suffocated Malawi’s development.”
