Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima arrested for corruption
26 Nov 2022 ( BBC )
Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima has been arrested on allegations that he accepted money in exchange for awarding government contracts, the country’s anti-corruption agency says.
He is accused of receiving $280,000 (£230,000) from a British businessman “and other items”, a statement says.
Mr Chilima has appeared in court but has not commented on the charges.
He had already been stripped of his powers in June when he was first accused by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
It had named him and another 83 Malawian officials as allegedly having corrupt dealings with the British businessman, named as Zuneth Sattar.
Mr Chilima is now facing six charges relating to corruption.
His supporters appeared to clash with police as he entered the court in the capital, Lilongwe, the Reuters news agency reports video from local media as showing.
Mr Sattar was arrested in the UK in October last year and is out on bail.
He is accused of using connections with senior Malawi government officials and politicians to fraudulently obtain contracts to supply goods and services.
The contracts related to armoured personnel carriers, food rations and water cannons, the Financial Times reported in May.
Mr Sattar has denied all wrong doing.
Mr Chilima came to power in 2020 as the running mate of President Lazarus Chakwera.
He had previously campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, promising to end decades of sleaze in government and ending poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries.
“Corruption has the power to rupture a country and its people beyond repair. Corruption has the power to make a government lose its legitimacy over its people,” the vice-president is quoted in a 2021 Anti-Corruption Bureau newsletter as saying.
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