Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commandant of the National Defence College, Brigadier General Dan Kuwali has been named in in charges which businessperson Zunneth Sattar is facing in the United Kingdom.
Others named in the charges are former vice president, late Saulos Chilima, State House Chief of Staff Prince Kapondamgaga, former Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General (IG) and former Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Reyneck Matemba.
Satter, who is facing 18 charges related to bribing foreign officials, is expected to appear before the Central London Magistrate Court todays.
UK’s National Crimes Agency (NCA) which arrested Sattar in that country in 2021 for alleged corruption deals in Malawi.
“Between 01/04/2021 and 31/05/2021 at not stated intending to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of business, bribed a foreign public official, namely Dan Kuwali, with the intention of influencing his capacity as a foreign public official. Contrary to sections 6 and 11 of the Bribery Act 2010,” reads the charge
If found guilty, according to the charge sheet which we have seen, Sattar is expected to either serve 12 months in jail and/or unlimited fines on each charge.
The ACB froze Sattar’s bank accounts in Malawi about three years ago pending investigations into allegations that Sattar bribed several public and private officials to gain favour from public contracts.
Last year, ACB gave Sattar access to his bank accounts frozen in connection with investigations of some procurement deals his firms had with government ministries, departments and agencies.
ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala said that the accounts had been unfrozen because investigations revealed that they were not used for payments from the Malawi Government.
“The bureau had unfrozen bank accounts which the investigation had established that they were not receiving payments from the Malawi Government.“It was established that the accounts where the Malawi Government cheques were paid were based outside Malawi. It has also been established that those accounts were frozen there,” she said
