Chizuma summoned to take plea in leaked audio case on Thursday

The Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe has summoned Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma to take plea in a case where the ACB czar is being accused of defaming a number of people.

The summoning comes barely a day after the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) had petitioned the Malawi Parliament to look into and resolve the matter surrounding the leaked audio in which Chizuma was conversing with a private person – Anderson Mwakyelu – on the progress she is making in the fight against corruption in Malawi.

In the audio phone conversation, Chizuma was heard pointing fingers at a number of high ranking officials as being behind her failure to pursue corruption cases against some people.

Among the accused persons was the fired Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dr. Steven William Kayuni.

In his national address last week, President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera reiterated his forgiveness and support for Chizuma despite the Commission of Inquiry recommending a disciplinary action against her in relation to the violation of her Oath of Secrecy.

President Chakwera said he had already dealt with this as an administrative matter when he forgave Ms. Chizuma last year.

However, the President stated that this does not stop the injured persons from seeking court relief.

This prompted HRCC to petition the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament (PAC) to look into and resolve the matter surrounding the leaked audio.

They feared that although President Chakwera had forgiven Chizuma, her reputation and that of her office remains under question, especially considering the way she divulged sensitive information to a third party.

Nyasa Times has in possession court summons/charge sheet instructing Chizuma to take plea in the forenoon of January 26, 2023, at the Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe.

According to the charge sheet, her offence is “making use of speech calculated to lower the authority of a person before whom a judicial proceeding is being had, contrary to Section to 113 (d) of the Penal Code”.

“Martha Chizuma, during the month of January 2022, in the City of Lilongwe in the Republic of Malawi, while a judicial proceeding is pending in the High Court in which Ashok Kumar Sreedharan is a party, made calculated to lower the authority of the judge, to wit Judge Simeon Mdeza, before whom the judicial proceeding was being had, by stating and suggesting that the said judge received a bribe,” reads part of the summons.

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