Major backlash over VP’s graft case

The National Alliance Against Corruption (Naac) says the government should have let the graft case against Vice-President Saulos Chilima proceed if it wants to be taken seriously in its efforts to curb corruption. The prosecutor filed a notice for the case to be discontinued on Monday and no reasons were given for the decision. Chilima was detained in November 2022 on allegations that he accepted funds to influence the awarding of contracts to Xaviar Ltd and Malachitte FZE, two companies linked to UK businessman Zuneth Sattar. Judge Redson Kapindu ordered his immediate discharge, citing a filing from the DPP made last Friday of a ‘discontinuance of charges against the accused person in respect of three counts of corrupt transactions’. ‘We have to look at what the law says if someone has offended, violated, abused a particular law,’ Naac chairperson Moses Mkandawire told Voice of America. He said it was unfortunate that Malawi's fight against corruption continues to favour high-profile individuals despite commitments by President Lazarus Chakwera to fight corruption without fear or favour.

In May last year, the DPP dropped a corruption case against former President Bakili Muluzi, who was accused of diverting an $11m donation to his personal bank account while in office between 1994 and 2004. VoA reports that this came a month after Chakwera pardoned former Homeland Security Minister Uladi Mussa, as an ‘act of mercy’. Musa was jailed in 2020 for corruption and placed on a US travel ban. Last July, Chakwera also pardoned the former Information Minister Henry Mussa on health grounds. He was serving a nine-year jail term after being convicted of conspiracy to steal government property.