The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has called on the Attorney General (AG) Frank Mbeta to resign, until he exonerates himself from corruption allegations.
The call comes a few days after lawyer and Human Rights Defender (HRD) Counsel Alexious Kamangira reminded Malawians that, at some point, Mbeta obtained an order stopping the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from executing a warrant of arrest obtained after it had concluded its investigations over your involvement on a matter allegedly bordering on corruption.
“Gauging from the public discourse, Malawians have taken it upon themselves to fight corruption at the judiciary, which has clearly manifested itself in instances where politicians obtain court orders stopping their arrest and investigations. And more recently, the nation has been awakened by the Finance Bank of Malawi payout ordered by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“While Malawians are joining hands to fight endemic corruption at the Judiciary, they are faced with this harsh reality that the head of the bar himself is an alleged beneficiary of the very system Malawians have vowed to address, worse still they are not sure how the matter involving your alleged corruption case was concluded.
“Now that you are no longer a private lawyer and by extension you are the Chief Legal Advisor to the Executive arm of government, including the President, the Speaker and Parliament and even the Judiciary, it is imperative that you should mind your own integrity and that of the AG’s office, which you are currently occupying.
“Thus far, you may agree with CDEDI and indeed all the well-meaning Malawians that the resurfacing of this matter, is reflecting negatively on you personally, and the continued debate over the same raises serious issues of your fitness and suitability to serve as the head of the bar on one hand and on the other, dampens hopes that corruption will indeed be stamped out in the country,” said CDEDI executive director Slyvester Namiwa
In October 2021, High Court of Malawi in Zomba granted Mbeta (the a private practicing lawyer), permission to apply for judicial review on the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) decision to prosecute him.
The order by High Court Judge Mzonde Mvula followed an application by Mbeta following a move by ACB to prosecute him using summons after the bureau’s hands were tied through a court order the lawyer obtained in 2015.
In the order dated October 6 2021, Mvula said the ACB was now restricted from prosecuting Mbeta using summons as per its application.
The ACB wanted to start prosecuting Mbeta on corruption charges dating back to 2015.
Court documents show that Mbeta allegedly offered a Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) employee K2 million to erase files on computers the public tax collector seized from his client in 2015. The court documents show that Mbeta’s client was being investigated for alleged tax evasion.
