Njaunju murder investigations stalls: ‘Police still searching for clues’

Investigations  into the murder of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director of corporate services Issa Njauju is said to be stalling with Police still searching for clues as police admit they are struggling to find the killers .

Nyasa Times understands that there is “no strong evidence”   so far gathered to establish the murder plot.

Police investigators had several problems, including that the crime scene was not sealed off and that some evidence was destroyed.

“We haven’t really made much progress at all,” said a police source.

Njauju was brutally murdered and his body thrown aside presidential villas along presidential drive in the capital city’s Area 44 on July 2 2015.

His body was found with two gunshot wounds according to an autopsy report and his official car a Toyota Hilux D4D double cabin was burnt down to ashes at Mtsiriza near Area 49 in Lilongwe.

Some sections of the society are speculating that ACB boss was killed by a “state-sponsored” mafia-style attack.

Post-mortem results showed that Njauju was shot twice in the neck and chest before he was buried near Lilongwe River.

Questions were also raised with Norman Chisale’s donation to police of K1.5 million ($3 333) reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailants.

Justin Dzonzi who is Executive Director for Justice Link faulted the police for failure to show professional handling of the crime scene involving the high profile ACB official.

“When a gun is fired you would find shell casings where the shots were fired and if you assume that the person who shot might have been in the car it is then possible that you can find evidence in the car so on and so forth.

“Now if that car has been disturbed before the investigating team has had time to investigate then they may lose all certain clues that may lead them to certain conclusions’, said Dzonzi.

He explained that If at the investigation level the police have not been able to establish what exactly happened even if some individuals were to be arrested it becomes extremely difficult for prosecutors to prove in court that indeed those individuals are connected to the crime that took place.

Dzonzi said this is because investigators will have failed to gather sufficient evidence with which to convict suspects.

“Remember that in court its evidence that speaks volume, it’s not just mere allegation so you will need to arm yourself with sufficient factual information that would then show what actually happened.

“So the disturbance of the crime scene would affect both investigations and subsequent prosecution if it were to take place”, said Dzonzi.

Police said investigations shows cashgate – probe into systematic plunder of public resources – could be the reason to Njaunju’s savage murder.

Director of training at Police headquarters, Richard Luhanga told a news conference in Lilongwe recently that the investigators are pursuing a number of conspiracies.

“We cannot rule out that murder is connected to his work [at ACB),” said Luhanga, a senior police commissioner.

“What we are doing right now is to connect the dots,” he said.

Luhanga said police are following up “a sequence of events” that took place a day before Njauju was murdered.

Police also hinted at what Nyasa Times reported that the murder of Njauju could have been a case of mistaken identity.

“We are doing our interrogations with various people and also analysing information that we are currently getting from the public. At the moment, all options are welcome,” he said.

Envoys from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, the European Union, Norway and Ireland called for speedy investigations and warned that intimidation and bribery should not been used to deter ACB from pursuing those denying the country its much-needed resources through corruption.

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