Malawi: Supporters Of Vice President Chilima To Celebrate Halt In Corruption Case

By Joseph Dumbula.

Supporters of the UTM party which is led by Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima are due to hold jubilations across the major cities including the capital city Lilongwe in celebrating the discontinuance of the corruption case that their leader had been facing for years.

Chilima had been facing corruption charges for allegedly receiving bribes from corruption suspect Zunneth Sattar who is based in the UK.

Chilima was arrested last year by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on allegations of accepting a reward of 280,000 United States dollars from Sattar to assist his [Sattar] company, Xaviar Limited, in securing a Food Ration Packs Contract worth $7.8 million from the Malawi government for the Malawi Police. 

He had initially been answering six charges; three are to do with corrupt practices by a public officer, two are for using influence to receive advantage and another for of failing to report to police or ACB over an advantage received corruptly.

But the case has meanwhile been discontinued

Judge Redson Kapindu said the decision to drop the charges was after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) filed a notice for the case to be discontinued.

Kapindu ordered the DPP to provide reasons for discontinuing the case to the legal affairs committee of parliament within 10 days as required by the country's constitution.

Meanwhile, the Pan African Visions understands that there will be vigils in the capital Lilongwe, commercial capital Blantyre and the northern region city of Mzuzu.

Chilima's lawyer, Khumbo Soko, said his team was relieved that the criminal charges against the vice president had been dropped.

"As of now, we do not know the reasons for the discontinuance, suffice to say only parliament has the mandate to know," said Soko.