ACB blocks deals for Batatawala, others

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has issued restriction notices against businessperson Abdul Karim Batatawala and two Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services senior officers stopping them from dealing in a set of properties in which they have beneficial interest.

In the restriction notice against Batatawala and Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services officials Fletcher Nyirenda and Limbani Chawinga, the bureau said the trio was targeted as part of various investigations by the ACB following allegations of unexplained wealth and other suspected corrupt practices.

“Following the restriction notices, Abdul Karim Batatawala, Limbani Chawinga and Fletcher Nyirenda are restricted from dealing with the properties and vehicles outlined above until the ACB has concluded the investigations or lifted the restriction notices,” reads the statement in part.

For Batatawala, the ACB has targeted plots and houses, mostly located in Blantyre, most of which trade under Pamodzi Settlement Trust.

The bureau has also restricted Nyirenda from dealing with property, including three houses and a bar in Blantyre and two plots in Mzuzu as well as three cars, a Toyota Duet, Nissan Dualis and Mitsubish Canter.

For Chawinga, the targeted property includes eight cars and three houses and a bar in Blantyre and Lilongwe.

Meanwhile, the ACB has also renewed its restriction notice stopping Ministry of Lands from dealing with some property, in form of pieces of lands, in which businessperson Zunneth Sattar has beneficial interest.

The bureau’s action against Sattar follows a December 23 2021 restriction notice to the Ministry of Lands which listed over 80 plots linked to the United Kingdom-based businessperson accused of corruption.

A statement from ACB indicated that the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court granted the order renewing the restriction notice.

Reads the statement: “This follows an application that the bureau made to the court for the renewal of the restriction notice to allow the bureau to finalise investigations it is carrying out on the allegations that Zuneth Sattar together with his agent Ashok Nair paid bribes to public officers and other politically exposed persons to obtain public procurement contracts in Malawi.”