The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday arrested newly- appointed director of Public Officers’ Declarations, Christopher Tukula, for reportedly interfering with investigations in the ongoing Cashgate cases.
ACB senior public relations officer Egrita Ndala said in a statement Tukula was arrested yesterday afternoon after the bureau established that he was interfering with potential witnesses in the case.
“The bureau had established that Tukula was interfering with potential witnesses by casing them to give false information to the bureau contrary to Section 14 (1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Corrupt Practices Act,” the ACB press statement reads in part.
Ndala further said the bureau obtained a warrant of arrest against the director but he obtained an injunction through his lawyer Ralph Kasambara, restraining ACB from executing the warrant of arrest.
The injunction was set aside by the court in Mzuzu on Thursday, according to Ndala who added that Tukula would be taken to court after ACB records a caution statement from him.
But in an interview last evening, Kasambara said he was not aware that his client had been arrested, adding that the court order stopping ACB from arresting his client was renewed yesterday.
“I am hearing it from you that my client has been arrested. What I know is that there is a court order and he is not supposed to be arrested. If they want to defy the court order, let them go ahead. We know our ACB and I do not want to say anything against it because we know it always wants to derail others,” he said.
Tukula was appointed to the office on August 20 2014 in partial fulfilment of Section 7 of the Public Officers (Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interests) Act which states that public officers must submit details of their assets within three months of being appointed or elected.
