Atiele Trading Company has sued Export Development Fund (EDF), a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), for K185 million for alleged contract breaches.
According to documents from the High Court Commercial Division in Lilongwe filed by Atiele, the claim arises from an agreement on the sale of groundnuts and beans to Zambia-based Farmers Ban Limited.
Under the agreement, Farmers Ban was to make payments to EDF which financed the deal, while Atiele, as the seller, was to receive 15 percent commission from sales proceeds.
The claim, dated October 22 2024 and filed under case number 124 of 2024, alleges that EDF received payments, but failed to remit commissions owed to Atiele.
Atiele’s demands include K76.5 million for a 15 percent commission on the proceeds from the sale of 384 metric tonnes of goods allegedly undelivered due to EDF’s breach, plus interest.
The firm is also claiming K24.8 million or 15 percent of sales proceeds from groundnuts with compound interest at commercial rates.
Additional separate demands are K50.4 million and K22.8 million for groundnut sales proceeds as outlined in the suit through Raymond and Hughes.
In a notice signed by Judge Trouble Kalua on October 28 2024, the High Court has summoned EDF to file a defence within 28 days, along with supporting documents.
“If you do not intend to contest the proceedings, you must, within 14 days after service of this summons, return the accompanying response, indicating that you do not intend to contest, but seek a stay of enforcement of judgement,” the notice reads.
EDF did not respond to a request for comment.
The claim follows a 2022 special audit report into EDF transactions which revealed the organisation lost about K12.8 billion from questionable business decisions.
According to a forensic report by Fletcher and Evance accountants, the fund suffered these losses under its Commodity Market Making initiative, allegedly run without adherence to standard procedures.
The Atiele-Zambia deal was highlighted in the audit report as being involved in suspicious transactions.
EDF and Atiele reportedly disputed the payment status from Farmers Ban.
“During our interviews, Mr. Thandize Loti [trading as Atiele] informed us that Farmers Ban could not pay the final balance because some commodities were not delivered.
“However, Mr. Chifuniro Kaimapanjira of EDF asserted that they delivered all commodities and invoiced for the full amount,” the report states.
The audit flagged this as a sign of poor stock tracking.
EDF is mandated to mobilise resources for financing export-oriented projects aligned with national development goals.
Its core mission includes creating sustainable employment through industrialisation and contributing to structural transformation, as outlined in Malawi’s Vision 2063.
