Anti-graft chief accused of meddling in probe

The acting head of Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) allegedly used confidential corruption case files involving senior opposition politicians as leverage to pressurise the parliamentary committee examining his conduct. The allegation is contained in a formal, seven-page complaint filed Wednesday by Steven Baba Kamsiyamo, the chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), addressed directly to the official he accuses. The Mail & Guardian reports that the complaint describes a sustained effort by Gabriel Chembezi, the acting DG of the ACB to secure his ‘clearance’ from the PAC. The committee had been investigating a pension fund’s acquisition of a hotel at a price that independent valuers said was several times above market value. Chembezi has not publicly responded to the allegations, which remain untested in court. The controversy originates with the Public Service Pension Trust Fund, Malawi’s third-largest pension fund, which administers retirement savings for teachers, nurses, police officers and other civil servants.