APM TPIN probe Flop haunts ACB

 The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is getting a barrage of flak for failing to interview former president Peter Mutharika on the Cement-gate case with critics saying this does not give confidence in its fight against corruption.

Several high-profile corruption cases have stalled where suspects were arrested and given bail. They include Vice-President, Batatawala and former Inspector General.

But in a brief response to the Cement-gate case, which has dragged for almost two years, the bureau’s spokesperson Egrita Ndala said they are considering working with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute the matter since the DPP is also working on the case. She did not give details about how her office plans to approach the matter.

And asked what his strategy would be to

 prosecute the backlog of cases in his office, DPP Masauko Chamkakala, who President Lazarus Chakwera appointed on Wednesday this week, said he had not yet formally assumed the office.

Chamkakala replaced Dr Steven Kayuni, who the President fired for using his position to settle a personal injury.

Chakwera’s move follows the release of the Commission of Inquiry Report into the arrest of ACB director general Martha Chizuma in December over a leaked audio.

In their views on ACB’s failure to interview Mutharika on how his taxpayer identification number (TPIN) was abused while he was in office, Youth and Society executive director Charles Kajoloweka and Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency head Willy Kambwandira said ACB’s long silence on the matter was unjustified.

Said Kajoloweka: “It (the delay) is unjustified and puts the bureau in bad light in handling high-profile cases.”

In a telephone interview yesterday Kajoloweka attributed the status quo to lack of co-ordination between law enforcement agencies, adding that while the ACB, Fiscal Police, Police and the DPP are interested in the matter, their efforts are disjointed.

“This is a crisis of poor co-ordination among the different law enforcement agencies. They should have harmonised their investigations for the sake of progress because the status quo is sending a wrong message.

“It also exposes the lapses that are there when law enforcement agencies are probing high profile cases which in turn affect prosecution of the cases,” he said.

On his part, Kambwandira said ACB had no justification for delaying the investigations as the bureau is now well-funded and has beefed up its staff.

“The bureau’s continued silence on the matter does not give confidence in the fight against corruption. If anything, it smacks of selective prosecution of cases.

“It is also important that the bureau should update Malawians on the progress of this matter.”

Almost one and a half years after the bureau’s last failed attempt to interview Mutharika, it has not made known its next move.

In a telephone interview last week, one of Mutharika’s lawyers Samuel Tembenu said the bureau has not communicated anything since their last encounter in September 2021.

In the last meeting, Mutharika exercised his right to remain silent after which Chizuma said they would pursue a legal process to have the former president explain his side.

Said Tembenu: “We have not heard from them since last year.”

At the time, the bureau also gave Mutharika 21 days to respond to some issues they raised, which Tembenu said Mutharika responded to.

Earlier, on July 16 2021, Ndala said in a statement the bureau had planned to conduct a caution interview with Mutharika on July 20 2021.

“The bureau would like to let Malawians know that this is a normal legal process which started in 2020. The ACB hopes that this will put the record straight on the various stories circulating in the social media surrounding this matter.”

In a follow up statement on July 20, 2021 the ACB spokesperson announced the interview had been  postponed to July 27 2021.

According to our sister newspaper The Nation, the former president’s lawyers had requested the bureau to give them 21 days to study the documents but the bureau granted Mutharika only 10 days.

But on July 27, Mutharika released a strongly-worded statement describing ACB’s plan to interview him as continued persecution and harassment intended to humiliate and taunt him psychologically.

Reads the statement in part: “Out of courtesy to your institution, I will listen to your questions if you decide to proceed but will exercise my right to remain silent unless I am told if I have committed any offence.”

Two days later, Mutharika asked ACB to give him a week before he could be interviewed, saying he was unwell.

But two months later, the bureau back-tracked on its plans to interview Mutharika saying they would pursue other legal means. However, it is now over a year since the bureau’s last communication on the matter.

In August 2020 Fiscal Police also questioned the former Malawi leader under caution on matters surrounding the tax evasion case. Mutharika immediately issued a statement distancing himself from involvement in the importation of the said cement.

The cement importation and the alleged abuse of his TPIN led to the arrest of his personal bodyguard Norman Chisale and former Chief of Staff Peter Mukhito.

Others arrested in connection with the case in which government is suspected to have been defrauded billions of kwacha through tax evasion were former Malawi Revenue Authority deputy commissioner general Roza Mbilizi, a Lilongwe-based Asian businessperson Mohammed Chunara and his father Ahmed.

The bureau also froze bank accounts for Mutharika and his wife, Gertrude.

In May, 2021 police also interviewed Mutharika’s stepson Tadikira Mafubza on the same issue