Chaponda opts to be mute, says following legal advice

Embattled former Agriculture minister George Chaponda says he has stopped granting interviews to the media.

Chaponda says his legal team has advised him against talking to the press on the maizegate matters.

“I am afraid, I am not talking to you,” said Chaponda.

There have been growing calls to have Chaponda arrested following his suspicious dealings in the procurement of maize from Zambia.

Leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera says he will lead a revolt and grinding parliamentary business to a stand still should President Peter Mutharika continue shielding Chaponda on the issue.

Executive director of Anti-Corruption Bureau Lucas Kondowe has rejected allegations that he received instructions from Mutharika not to arrest Chaponda.

“Our investigators are on the ground. I don’t even tell them what to do. They do their job without any influence and here at ACB, we work independently,” he said.

He said an arrest can only come after the investigators are through with their job and have made such a recommendation.

A money laundering law expert Jai Banda said the discovery of huge sums of money is not evident enough of any crime.

He said it might just be a pointer to a crime if the owner of the money fails to show where and how he got the money.

“It might be he withdrew the money from a bank for a particular project,” he said.

He said investigators can build up a case after thorough interrogation.

Chaponda was found with K166 million cash in both local and foreign currencies. Information minister Nicholas Dausi has warned Chakwera against revolting over Chaponda’s issue.

“He will be doing that on his own peril, he will be answerable to the consequencies,” said Dausi.

The presidential commission on maizegate found the conduct of Chaponda, in his dealings with Transglobe, most inappropriate, suspicious and raising issues of corrupt practices.