Ex-ACB Director General Matemba granted bail after been arrested in connection with corruption saga involving Zunneth Sattar

Matemba, in whose tenure Sattar was cleared of any corruption investigations

* Also arrested is former Board chairperson for Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority, John Suzi-Banda

By Duncan Mlanjira

Zunneth Sattar’s high corruption case continue as more high profile people continue being implicated of being bribed that includes form Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Reyneck Matemba.

Matemba, who is former Solicitor General and Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, was arrested today, July 5 alongside former Board chairperson for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA) Authority, John Suzi-Banda.

The two have since been granted bail by Chief Resident Magistrate Madalitso Chimwaza in Lilongwe, after been charged with one count of corrupt use of official powers contrary to Section 25 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act.

The ACB arrested Matemba and Suzi-Banda for allegedly receiving advantage from Zuneth Sattar, Managing Director of Xaviar Limited, according to a statement from ACB Principal Public Relations Officer Egrita Ndala.

“The arrest is in relation to the vetting of the said contract of procurement, contract reference number MPS/SB/16/04/2021, to supply 350,000 food ration packs worth US$7,875,000.

“The investigations conducted by the Bureau established that Mr. Reyneck Matemba corruptly received US$10,000 as an advantage for the vetting process of the food rations contract.

“Mr. John Suzi-Banda received MK3,000,000 from Mr. Zuneth Sattar’s agent Zun Cheena to influence Mr. John Suzi-Banda to grant a no objection for the Malawi Police Service to award the contract to Xaviar Limited.”

Ndala said Matemba is charged with one count of corrupt use of official powers contrary to Section 25 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act while Suzi-Banda is charged with one count of obtaining an advantage contrary to Section 24(1) of the Corrupt Practices Act and one count of failure to declare interest contrary to Section 25D (2) (a) of the Corrupt Practices Act.

During his tenure as Director General, the ACB — under legal guidance from the then-Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, reportedly cleared Sattar that the UK-based businessman was not under any formal investigation by the Bureau.

It wasn’t until Britain’s anti-corruption authorities alerted their Malawi counterpart and together arrested Malawian-born together with several associates in the United Kingdom and Malawi.

The on-going investigations saw the arrests of former Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa being implicated and later Vice-President Saulos Chilima was also implicated in the corrupt dealings with Sattar.

Others involved were public officers were specifically from Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Police Service — that included Inspector General (IG) of the Malawi Police, George Kainja — officers from Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Malawi Revenue Authority, Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority, Office of the President and Cabinet, Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Homeland Security, Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Tourism, State House, Reserve Bank of Malawi, Financial Intelligence Authority — and even more from the ACB itself.

Kainja, who was found by the ACB to have been recorded through telephone conversations with Sattar allegedly discussing procurement deals and kickbacks, was fired as the Inspector General by President Lazarus Chakwera.

Chakwera also withheld Chilima from any delegated duties while waiting for the ACB to substantiate its allegations against him and to make known its course of action in relation to all corruption cases.