ACB chief pleads for patience over judges bribery attempts in Malawi poll case
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Reyneck Matemba has once again pleaded for patience on the disclosure of names of those who allegedly wanted to bribe Constitutional Court judges tackling a case linked to a controversial election which handed President Peter Mutharika a second term.
Matemba has said this following the expiry of the 48 hour ultimatum issued by the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) for the graft busting body to disclose the names.
“Malawians should give the bureau more time. They will know the suspects very soon,” he said.
He said the names would be known after the bureau obtains a warrant of arrest to start the prosecution process of the suspects.
Legal commentator Justin Dzonzi said the bureau could face a lawsuit on defamation and character assassination if it just goes ahead to disclose the names.
ACB said it had received a complaint from Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda in November 2019 alleging bribes had been offered to the five judges presiding over the case.
The opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the UTM Party have said the May 21 poll last year was marred by fraud.
Mutharika narrowly won, beating MCP candidate Lazarus Chakwera by 159,000 votes.
UTM candidate Saulos Chilima came third with 20.24 percent.
Mutharika has dismissed doubts on the official results, which show he won 38.57 percent of the vote to Chakwera’s 35.41 percent.
A ruling by the Constitutional Court is expected by the end of January.
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Dzonzi is ignorant of what constitutes a basis for a defamation case where one can prevail: they would have to show irrefutable malice by the investigating authority in revealing names obtained from tape-recorded conversations of suspects weighed against the investigating authority’s obligation to be transparent to the general public where it can easily be concluded the investigating authority is keeping the names under the wraps (not for reasons given but) by orders from high-up (Mutharika) suspected to be involved in the case!!!!!
Dzonzi is ignorant of what constitutes a basis for defamation: they would have to show malice in the investigating authority revealing details of what transpired (as obtained from recorded tape conversations of suspects)!!!!????
It is possible that the bribery issue was just staged
As large numbers of criminal cases are soon abandoned, where accusations are unfounded or unprovable, why should law enforcement officers or prosecutors ever routinely name a person merely upon suspicion or even on arrest? They have no duty to publicise the termination of a criminal investigation or a decision not to prefer charges against him, so they should withhold the identity of suspects (unless they request otherwise) at least until a magistrate has been satisfied that an arrest warrant is justified. Even then, answers provided in interview or evidence later obtained might lead to the suspect being unconditionally released. Preferably,… Read more »
We know pretty well that the judgement is in favour of MEC and the dirty DPP bcoz the judges have already received the bribes from our taxes and this story of attempting to bribe the judges is just a cooked one in order to shield the inside deal. Am crying for my mother Malawi. Ma judge mogwirizana ndi DPP anapatsana kale kuseri and nkhani iyi ndiyongofuna kuphimba anthu mmaso. God is watching over u guys.
He is waiting for out come of the election case, hahaha ukuwopa chani act now.
Don’t be under pressure Mr Matemba..u must work according to ur experience
GOD will get tired of yu mr matemba
Koma ma comment awanthu enanu,
Koma mumadziwa kuti zinthu zoipa mutha kupanga lero Mulungu osakuoangani?koma ana ndi zidzukulu zanu kudzakhala pamavuto osowa pogwira,muzisamala ndi mayankhulidwe anu,basi poti zikukuyenderani zikhale choncho pomwe mamiliyoni akuvutika? Shame o
n you
Don’t ever tell us the names sir we know them