Matemba takes on UK witnesses

Undeterred by dismissal of his bid to question the procedural legality of admitting two United Kingdom-based witnesses, former Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director-general Reyneck Matemba on Tuesday picked himself up and pinned the witnesses in cross-examination.

Testifying in the High Court of Malawi Financial and Economic Crimes Division in Lilongwe, National Crimes Agency (NCA) senior officer Mark Reeves said he had not come across any conversation between Matemba and UK-based Malawian businessperson Zuneth Sattar.

He told the court that he was part of a team that probed Sattar and flew in from the UK for the Matemba case.

Reeves said the NCA came across conversations of senior Malawi Government officials discussing the payment of bribes and gifts allegedly to help Sattar get contracts.

He said the probe was instituted after NCA noted that Sattar was given huge sums of money while documents from his suppliers showed that the value of the items were below what he was charging the Malawi Government.

During cross-examination by Matemba, who is representing himself in the case, Reeves said there was no audio conversation between Sattar and Matemba discussing bribes or gifts.

He told the court: “It’s correct that from the audios I listened to, there is no audio about bribery between Sattar and Matemba. But there are some audios in foreign language that are yet to be interpreted.”

Reeves added that there was no direct text message from Matemba to Sattar and vice-versa, discussing bribes, but said he saw a text between Sattar and his business associate Ashok Nair where Sattar ordered Ashok to pay Matemba 10 000. The witness said he assumed the amount to be in dollars.

But when Matemba asked to be shown the text in question, the witness said the message indicated 5 000.

Matemba also requested that he be shown the message from Sattar ordering Nair to pay him the said amounts and in response Reeves said there is no such text.

Following this admission, Matemba, who is on record to have accused the ACB of arresting him without evidence, lamented that he was arrested on bribery charges and that his successor Martha Chizuma granted interviews to international media on the same.

“For over a year, I was demonised and ridiculed for receiving bribes. I was discriminated against and dehumanised, for a year,” he said.

Another NCA official Jonath Meredith said the UK agency entered into an agreement with the ACB to share information that was vital in investigations in Malawi relating to the Sattar dealings.

In cross-examination, Matemba quizzed Meredith on how evidence in the UK is shared and if it is every Jim and Jack who can request for the same.

The witness, in response, told the court that a request is made to the central authority, namely the UK Home Office, and that it has to be made by a designated authority equivalent to the Attorney General’s office in Malawi.

Next, Matemba asked if that was done, to which Meredith said it is yet to be done.

The accused further stated that the audios and pictures of WhatsApp texts NCA shared with ACB were just intelligence and that it is up to ACB to bring evidence against him in the case.

Meredith agreed with Matemba’s assertion that what was shared was intelligence detail, but could not say when the evidence is expected to be shared.

Matemba also asked Meredith if he [Matemba] was aware that he was arrested a few weeks after the NCA shared the intelligence with ACB. The witness said he was aware.

However, Meredith said he came to Malawi to change the information into evidence, a thing Matemba wondered how it would be possible.

At the end of the day’s session, ACB informed the court that it would bring two more witnesses today. But Matemba asked if it was possible for the graft-busting agency to parade more than two witnesses to cover up for the time lost on Monday when the NCA witnesses failed to testify due to an objection from him on matters of procedure.

The ACB granted Matemba his wish and indicated it would parade three witnesses instead. Today’s witnesses are ACB officials.

Earlier, presiding Judge Violet Chipao had dismissed an application Matemba made on Monday that the NCA officials should not testify in the case.

The judge said the ACB can use informal means to ask witnesses to come and testify.

Matemba was arrested on August 5 2022 on allegations that he received a bribe of $10 000 from Sattar in relation to the $7.875 million Malawi Police Service food rations contract.

However, about a year later, the ACB changed the charges, indicating that Matemba failed to declare interest in the approval and vetting of the contract when he was board member of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) and Solicitor General.