Chizuma defamation lawsuit sparks debate
The decision by Zunneth Sattar’s business associate Ashok Kumar Sreedharan to sue the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma for defamation has sparked debate.
Sreedharan has sued Chizuma in her personal capacity based on a recorded and leaked conversation about her official work with a third party.
University of Malawi law professor Garton Kamchedzera wondered yesterday in a write-up why crime investigation and prosecution agencies have not questioned the man with whom Chizuma conversed.
He wrote: “Instead of hearing that any of the agencies that should be fighting corruption too in this country, such as the police and the Financial Intelligence Authority, have worked to explore who recorded her and why it is Ms. Chizuma answering criminal charges and defending herself against expensive civil suits in Malawi’s judicial system.
“Much as the public has through their expectations and confidence in this woman made her an easy target for opponents, my disgust is against those that are employed to collaborate with her to fight corruption.”
The legal scholar said Section 319 a (f) of the Penal Code creates an offence punishable by seven years imprisonment for any person to engage in deceit to induce another person to do or say something that she or he is lawfully entitled to abstain from doing or saying.
“The man whose voice is in the audio and abused the trust she [Chizuma] had in him, slyly asking questions whose answers could be used to knock her out of the fight against corruption.
“She struggled to answer some of those questions, as he presented himself to be on her side. A month later, that man is still referred to as “unknown” by mainstream media, as the nation and opponents focus on one woman, Ms. Martha Chizuma.”
Kamchedzera said it seems State institutions, structures and processes are too rotten to fight corruption; hence, this affects decision-making and action-taking in the country.
Veteran human rights defender Undule Mwakasungula in a statement released yesterday called for support to Chizuma.
Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Gift Trapence agreed that there is now a need for government to ramp up support to the ACB.
“We are also calling upon Malawians to guard against any attempts to isolate or threaten ACB director’s work on investigations and persecution of any individual suspected of corruption.”
The lawsuit is based on a leaked audio in which the ACB head alleges that money changed hands to have the applicant released after an arrest, among other things that Chizuma discusses in the recording that earned her a misconduct rebuke from President Lazarus Chakwera after she admitted to him that the conversation was authentic.
The ACB recently arrested Sreedharan alongside former minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa on allegations of corruption relating to land deals.
The arrests were part of an ongoing joint investigation between ACB and Britain’s National Crime Agency into Sattar’s financial dealings.
Both Sreedharan and Msukwa were unconditionally released from arrest after they sought the intervention of the High Court.
However, in the leaked audio, Chizuma discusses the bail release and when the bureau would take specific action on its findings and shared views that suggested that some politically connected persons were frustrating her efforts to fight corruption.
