ACB has final say on VP—State House
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our months after President Lazarus Chakwera withheld delegated duties from Vice-President Saulos Chilima, State House says the situation remains the same until the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) decides the way forward.
Presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda said yesterday during Quarterly State House Briefing that the graft-busting agency will decide the way forward depending on its investigation.
He said: “What I can say on ACB report which led to the President withdrawing delegated powers from his Vice, is that the President took a decision at that material time based on what was presented to him in the report from ACB. The President took the contents of the report seriously.”
Kasunda said this in response to a question on progress made in the cases involving the Second Citizen and others allegedly named in a report on cases involving United Kingdom-basedbusinessperson Zuneth Sattar.
In June this year, the President withdrew delegated powers from Chilima and also interdicted State Residences chief of staff Prince Kapondamgaga. However, to date, the duo has neither been questioned nor charged.
The President said he made his decision based on the ACB report which showed that the two were among 13 public officials the bureau had extensively investigated on corruption suspicions relating to Sattar’s procurement contracts with the Malawi Government.
Based on the same report, Chakwera also suspended then chairperson of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) John-Suzi Banda and fired former Police Inspector General George Kainja.
ACB has so far arrested Kainja, director of legal services in the Malawi Police Service Mwabi Kalua, Suzi-Banda and Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Lands Reyneck Matemba, a former ACB chief. Prosecution of their cases has not started.
On why the bureau has not moved on Chilima and Kapondamgaga after their public naming, ACB principal public relations officer Egrita Ndala, in an earlier interview, said the two were under investigation.
In an earlier statement, signed by the Office of the Vice-President director of communications Pilirani Phiri, Chilima denied allegations that he corruptly benefited from Sattar.
