ACB keeps outsourced lawyers’ role under wraps

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has kept under wraps details of which cases private practice lawyers it intends to hire will be handling.

In an interview on Monday, ACB principal public relation officer Egrita Ndala said there are specific cases which will be handled by the outsourced lawyers expected to be recruited on 12-month contracts.

“It may not be proper to start disclosing the cases now before we have actually recruited the people yet,” said Ndala.

On December 24 2022, ACB placed an advert in local news papers indicating that with the establishment of the Financial Crimes Court, there is a need for more prosecutorial efforts.

The bureau said it wants to enhance its legal and prosecutorial services by outsourcing legal services from experienced and qualified lawyers on one-year contracts for a maximum of three years upon satisfactory performance.

Among others, the bureau wants the qualified lawyers to have a minimum of 10 years experience and ability to provide quality and independent legal advice to the ACB boss on cases assigned.

The advert came three weeks after the suspension of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steven Kayuni who earlier advised ACB against picking private practice lawyer Modecai Msisha to prosecute a case against Vice-President Saulos Chilima.

Kayuni is on record as having said he had communicated in confidence to the ACB the reasons for his decision barring Msisha from leading the graft-busting agency’s prosecution team.

“The reasons have been confidentially communicated to the ACB. I have so much respect for Msisha, SC, as such I cannot discuss this in the media,” he said in a brief written response.

On December 11 2022, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo disclosed that he had asked the Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda to review Kayuni’s decision.

In an earlier interview, Malawi Law Society honorary secretary Chrispin Ngunde said the law does allow the ACB director to appoint any legal practitioner in civil matters.

He said: “In terms of the law, Section 5B of the Corrupt Practices Act [CPA] expressly permits the Director of ACB to appoint any legal practitioner to provide legal representation to the ACB in civil matters, but the Corrupt Practices Act is silent on legal representation in criminal matters.”