ACB arrests own former director Matemba, PPDA former board chairperson Suzi Banda I

Officials from Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday arrested its immediate past director General, Reneck Matemba and former chairperson of Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA) John Suzi Banda over allegations that they might have received huge sums of money from UK based businessman Zuneth Sattar.

This is ACB’s continuation of crackdown on suspected 86 corrupt officials connected to Sattar whose list also include Vice President Dr Saulos Chilima, judges, senior army, police and civil servants.

ACB spokesperson Egritta Ndala has confirmed of the arrests in a statement, saying the two officials are suspected to have received bribes from Sattar, whose company, Xaviar Limited, is accused of inflated prices on contracts.

“The arrest (of Matemba) is in relation to the vetting of the said contract of procurement to supply 350,000 food rations pacts worth US$7,875,000.

“The investigations conducted by the Bureau established that Mr Reyneck Matemba corruptly received US$10,000 as an advantage for the vetting process of the food rations contract,” says Ndala.

She says Suzi Banda is suspected to have received K3 million from Sattar to grant a no objection for the Malawi Police Service to award the contract to Xaviar Limited.

The statement says Matemba will be charged with one count of corrupt use of official powers while Suzi Banda will be charged with obtaining money to an advantage to failure to declare interest.

They were expected to appear before a court in Lilongwe on Friday afternoon to be formally charged.

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