No court appearance yet for Odillo, Kafuwa

Former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commander General Henry Odillo (retired) and his then deputy Clement Kafuwa spent a second night in custody yesterday following their arrests by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday which is yet to take them to court.

The two were arrested allegedly for authorising payments for goods and services amounting to K1.9 billion paid to Thuso Investments, which the State claims were not delivered.

The two have been charged with three counts of abuse of public office contrary to Section 25(b) (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act; negligence by public officer in preserving money or any other property contrary to Section 284(1) of the Penal Code; and, money laundering contrary to Section (1) (d) of the Money Laundering, Proceeds of Serious Crimes and Terrorist Financing Act.

Odillo and Kafuwa are yet to enter their plea in court.

ACB senior public relations officer Egrita Ndala said in an interview yesterday the two will only appear in court after the bureau has taken their statements, but could not specify when.

She said: “We will take their statements soon and it is only after that when they can appear in court. I do not know when they will appear in court though.  For their whereabouts, you will need to ask police.”

Police sources told The Nation yesterday that the two were being held at Area 3 Police Station in Lilongwe.

However, National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo declined to comment on their whereabouts.  She said she needed more time to check with her colleagues.

The arrest of Odillo and Kafuwa came after ACB, in January this year, also arrested a former MDF Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Kauwa whose company, Thuso Investments Group, was linked to contracts for the disputed payments at MDF.

In an interview after Kauwa’s arrest, ACB deputy director general Reyneck Matemba had said Thuso had valid contracts with MDF prior to 2013, but the graft-busting agency found that there was no evidence of a K900 million contract to supply blank bullets.

The September 2014 forensic audit report by British firm Baker Tilly found that close to K18 billion of the K24 billion plundered between April and September 2013 was channelled through MDF.

Odillo and Kafuwa were apparently signatories of several cheques, including K3 billion to International Procurement Services (IPS) owned by businessperson Osward Lutepo—who is also answering his own money laundering charges—and K1.5 billion to Thuso, co-owned by Kauwa and Alexander Banda, according to information sourced from ACB. n