By Chisomo Phiri
Hearing of a corruption case involving Vice-President Saulos Chilima which was scheduled to resume today Friday at the High Court in Lilongwe has been adjourned to September 1, 2023.
A Notice of Adjournment from the court dated August 22, 2023, which we have seen signed by the registrar and addressed to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and defence lawyers has not given reasons for the interruption.
During the last hearing on August 1, 2023, High Court Judge Redson Kapindu ordered ACB to within seven days make a submission and serve the court and defence relevant documents on their objection to make available certain documents.
ACB lawyer Victor Chiwala informed the court that the bureau has some documents ready while for others, they would “still need to request from other institutions.”
He also stressed that they will not share other demanded documents such as investigation reports as these contain privileged information.
During the sitting, the judge also ordered that Chilima’s passport should be handed over to President Lazarus Chakwera saying when travelling outside the country, the Veep does not need to seek authority from ACB.
Meanwhile, the ACB has come up with new charges against Chilima. Initially, the VP was accused of receiving a $280,000 bribe to assist Xaviar Limited to be awarded the food ration packs contract.
New particulars of the offences do not mention the $280,000 bribe instead accuse Chilima of demanding and receiving “unspecified amounts of money for himself” to influence a public officer to give his approval to the Malawi Police Service to enter into a contract with Xaviar Limited for the supply of food ration.
ACB arrested Chilima in November last year on allegations that among others, he received $250,000 from Zenith Sattar to influence procurement deals at Malawi Police Service(MPS).
