US imposes travel ban on 4 corruption suspects
The United States of America (USA) Department of State has issued a travel ban to four former Malawi Government senior officers currently facing corruption charges linked to United Kingdom-based businessperson Zuneth Sattar.
In a statement issued yesterday, the ban has been issued to former solicitor general and Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Reyneck Matemba, former Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) board chairperson John Suzi-Banda, former Malawi Police Service lawyer Mwabi Kaluba and former Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service George Kainja.
The statement said the four are “generally ineligible for entry into the United States, due to their involvement in significant corruption”.
Further reads the statement: “Matemba, Suzi-Banda, Kaluba and Kainja abused their public positions by accepting bribes and other articles of value from a private businessperson.”
The Department of State says the ban extends to suspects’ spouses.
It added that the USA was “working towards a more just and prosperous nation by promoting accountability”.
Other suspects in the Sattar-linked case such as Vice President Saulos Chilima and former minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa have not been mentioned.
The US Embassy in Lilongwe was yet to respond to our questionnaire seeking further clarification on the statement.
The affected individuals are all under trial and none of them has faced conviction yet.
But this is not the first time the US Department of State has issued such a ban to a suspect in Malawi as in 2019 politician Uladi Mussa was also banned alongside his wife while serving as former president Peter Mutharika’s aide due to “significant corruption” after he was accused of issuing citizenship to foreigners.
Mussa was later convicted and pardoned last year.
In an earlier response to our questionnaire, US Embassy public affairs officer Namita Biggins said: “The travel ban against the former minister is still in place.”
Mussa committed the crimes when he was a Cabinet minister in the Joyce Banda administration from 2012 to 2014.
