Karim charged with theft and fraud in relation to Malawi police food deal: On bail

Anti-Corruption Bureau  (ACB) has charged a businessman Zameer Karim  in connection to K2.7 billion contract to supply rations to the police force.

Karim, the head of Pioneer Investments which won the tender in 2015 and is an ally of Mutharika, and a leaked investigative report alleged he  paid K145 million ( $200 000 ) into the account of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) one day after receiving payment for the rations supply deal.

The President  was listed as the sole signatory on the receiving account and following a public outcry over the vast donation, the party was forced to return it – but an ACB probe subsequently cleared Mutharika of personal wrongdoing.

ACB director general Reyneck Matemba later said it was his right to discontinue investigations in the absence of incriminating evidence.

Karim is charged with theft and fraud.

He was formally charged at Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court after an earlier interrogation at ACB headquarters in Mulanje House at City Centre  in Lilongwe.

Karim, who previously hit the headlines when it was revealed in July that he donated five vehicles worth a total of $115,000 to Mutharika who then registered them in his own name, is facing three counts of theft of K466 million  contrary ti Section 278 of the Penal Code, uttering a false document presented to CDH Investment Bank to acces a loan contrary to section 356 and 360 of the Penal Code and acquiring proceeds of crime (K466 million) contrary to Section 42 (i) of the Financail Crimes Act.

Chief resident magistrate Violet Palikena Chipawo granted Karim bail on the condition that he pays a K2 million cash bond and surrender travel documents.