By Salome Mkanda
Malawi’s suspected Corruption Kingpin Zuneth Sattar appears to have opened a can of worms with his attempt to apply for bail on his case from the British Authorities. In a bail hearing that took place on Wednesday at Oxbridge Magistrates in London, Sattar wanted the courts to let him travel to Dubai to seek medical attention. While the court refused to grant him permission, his case gave room for documents around his case which have been kept under wraps to be exposed, all thanks to the works of journalist Kondwani Munthali.
The court heard on Wednesday that Sattar, who was born in Malawi and came to Britain in 2014, is a British citizen. He is being investigated by the UK’s National Crime Agency for alleged corruption relating to three public contracts with the Malawi government, but he robustly denies wrongdoing, his lawyer Simon Farrell QC told the court
Among the revelations that came out of the case is that businessman Zuneth Sattar travelled to Malawi recently to influence the ongoing investigation into alleged state capture level corruption by Malawi and UK authorities. According to UK’s National Crimes Agency-NCA, which is cooperating with Malawi’s ACB to investigate Sattar, the businessman travelled to Malawi to influence the judicial review case into the arrest of his associate Ashok Nair.
The High Court in Lilongwe controversially released Ashok Nair, who was arrested by the ACB alongside former Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa, following a judicial review into his arrest.
The Uxbridge Magistrates Court in London–through Deputy District Judge Stein, eventually rejected Sattar’s application to the court that sought an amendment of current bail conditions so that he can be able to travel to Malawi and Dubai.
The judge cited the seriousness of the alleged crimes as reason for rejecting the plea. The NCA opposed the application, arguing that the trip was aimed at further interfering in the investigation which in October 2021 led to his arrest by the NCA in Leicester UK, alongside his wife. The NCA opposed the application to vary Sattar’s bail conditions, imposed in March 2022, on the grounds that he was believed “to be linked” to street protests in Malawi against Martha Chizuma, the director of the Malawian anti-corruption bureau. Malawi has been dogged by repeated procurement scandals over the past decade. Chizuma’s office has said it is investigating the supply of tens of millions of dollars of equipment such as water cannon to Malawi’s police and army.
In exposing some of Sattar’s dealings It has been revealed that One Cabinet minister and some senior government officials in various departments and agencies have been named in the on-going court case involving businessman Zuneth Sattar in the United Kingdom (UK)
Others that Sattar is alleged to have been in touch with include one official from the Office of the Vice President, one official from State House, two officials from the Malawi Police Service, two officials from the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority, one official from Ministry of Justice and one from Malawi Revenue Authority.
Sattar was first arrested in the UK towards the end of last year and raids were reportedly conducted in that country and Malawi on several properties allegedly belonging to him and his associates.
It is reported that the arrest followed a three-year-long investigation that the NCA had been conducting into the businessperson’s suspected corrupt dealings with some Malawi Government officials.
