ACB ready to investigate Karim’s five-car donation: CSOs demand action
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) boss Reyneck Matemba has said it was prepared to investigate that an unscrupulous Indian businessman Zameer Karim of Pioneer Investments made a dubious donation of five vehicles worth K85 million to President Peter Mutharika for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Karim, whose Pioneer Investments also donated K145 million to the DPP through a Standard Bank account which Mutharika is the sole signatory, is embroiled in a K2.7 billion police food rations contract controversy.
Presidential spokesperson Mgeme Kalirani told the Weekend Nation newspaper which revealed the donation on Saturday that Mutharika has not personally benefitted from the donation of five units of Nissan NP 300 vehicles that Karim bought from Nissan Malawi. He said the vehicles belonged to DPP.
Civil society organisations (CSOs) under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) have since has said it is disillusioned with “the level of impunity with which such a serious matter has been treated by the country’s graft-busting body, the Anti Corruption Bureau.”
HRDC chairperson Timothy Mtambo and his deputy Gift Trapence and regional chairpersons, accused the ACB of being “an accomplice in corruption”.
The CSOs have since asked Parliament through Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to institute investigations and come to the bottom of the matter, as per its mandate.
“No is the time for Parliament to live up to its promise and save this country from unacceptable and unprecedented impunity and executive thieving,” the HRDC said in the statement.
They are demanding action against Karim and that ACB boss Matemba should step down.
The CSOs alleged that Matemba has failed to inspire confidence in dealing with corruption, hence the appeal to parliamentary committee to intervene.
“It is an understatement to say ACB is toothless on the matter, the HRDC now believes ACB is an accomplice in corruption involving the President and the ruling party zealots in the country,” reads the statement made available to Nyasa Times.
Human rights activist Charles Kajoloweka, who is director of Youth and Society (YAS), said government needs to explain all dealings it has with Pioneer Investments for the public to appreciate.
He said more revelations on dealings regarding Pioneer Investiments should raise eyebrows.
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ACB ndi phanga laachifwamba, akuba etc. Akufunika shamboko iyenda kunsana.
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ACB should just be abolished. It’s using tax payers’ money for nothing. Some of the cases are not corruption cases but pure theft of public money. The police under Kamuzu did much better than this ACB. We had the Forfeiture Act meant to recover things bought using stolen money. Multiparty politics was adopted hurriedly without looking into the reasons for some of the acts. Malawi is bleeding. So far all the presidents since 1994 have been involved in theft. The evidence is there. The worst so far is Alamu Pumani Mwakalamba who is doing shoddy deals with Zameer. There could be more that we don’t know. Let’s change the government please for the better of our children.
Is that probe genuine or just a blind of Malawians?
In fact ACB is overdue for a thorough investigation by a credible and independent Commission of Enquiry. ACB has become the enemy of the state and a drain to the fiscus with billion of Kwacha in fruitless & wasteful expenditure. The whole ACB executive should be charged for lack of professionalism and putting Malawi at risk of becoming a banana republic. Please tell the public ACB, how many cases remain unresolved (still under investigation) and how many has it won.
Even in America or other Western countries a donation of even $10,000 is a lot of money. At least if it is coming from an individual (not a conglomerate).
And now this Karim conman wants the world to believe him that he can donate all that money for nothing? Of course the inflated Foodration payment is likely a tip of the iceberg. A tip of the nose of a massive Hppo (of corruption) beneath waters.
Our only solace is in the fact that Prof Karim Maliseche is remaining with only 6 mths before he gets kicked out of state house together with his co-thieves.
We Malawians should not cheat ourselves. Every President of the Republic of Malawi since 1994 (after Kamuzu’s rule) is owned by the Indian traders. Except for Kamuzu all our Presidents were and in case of APM is in the back pocket of Indian traders. An Indian trader can kill even a Minister and nothing will happen to the Indian in this country. These Indians can do whatever they wish in Malawi without fear of the law because their money buys everyone from our President to a High Court Judge all are corruptible. No one can punish the Indians not ACB, not the Police, not the Courts in fact no one can punish the Indians. Nothing will happen to Karim, he is already busy corrupting ACB, and still paying APM/DPP. Indians in fact rule Malawi, Bakili Muluzi, Joyce Banda, and now APM all are controlled by these Indians. Malawi is for Indians not for indigenous Malawians, we are slaves of the Indians because of corrupt leaders. We Malawians are good at focusing on stopping the statue of Mahatma Gandhi but helpless at ensuring that the Indians are held to account and are answerable for their crimes, Look at all the leaders of political parties, not one speaks about the corruption and crimes these Indian traders are involved in, because every leader is in the back pocket of the Indians.
We know the out come of your investigation, dont waste public resource, useless creatures,
Statehouse thinks Malawians are fools repeating the same line that this thieving president did not personally benefit when he, not DPP is the titleholder of these vehicles. What it means is that he owns the controversial vehicles, not DPP. He can do whatever he wants with them and not DPP. Is this man really a lawyer worth his salt? When the time comes for this thief to answer his crimes, you get stupid Malawians sympathizing with him as if they shared the loot.
ACB please do not cheat us. Just stay quiet. Don”t waste government money by pretending you are investigating. We need the money for investigations for hospitals not your stomachs
What did you say about Lutepo when he donated vehicles to PP and where is he now?
JB fought corruption DPP covers it. During PP K30 billions was cashgated and most culprits were prosecuted and convicted (Lutepo, Kalonga, malemu, etc) with DPP K577 cashgated, stealers have been exonerated and the figure has changed but that’s where it stops),
Ndiye DPP iyo, koma akuti wo ndiye zenizeni, ophunzira, mizwanya
Now what we need is an expatriate in at ACB NOT appointed by the President BASI
ZANYANYA IZI
This ACB is an entity not to be trusted. They only pay lip service but real investigations are not done. Muja munayambira kumangoti we will investigate but without results.
We are a doomed nation, amwenye ndi anthu owumira kwambiri and he can not be donating to DPP. Chilipo mmwenyeyu akupeza fraudently by giving back to DPP. We have leadership who does not care about Malawi.
Koma ndiye kutitola a Malawi, kuba dzuwa likuswa mtengo. Karim Muntharika please receive Jesus. A Malawi mutiberafe ndife osauka, ana thu a maphuzira pa mtengo kapena school blocks zopanda mawindo, zosalimba, zikumawagwera nkumawapha
K240m can go along way to save the situation.
ACB cleared APM when a cheque of K145m was deposited by the same Karim into an account whose only signatory was APM. Will investigating the vehicles donation to the same APM by the same Karrim bring any different outcome?
I think we are wasting our time on this issue there a lot of issues to be looked at rather than this which only benefit mercenary CSOs to hell