ACB director’s office broken into

Police in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, are questioning a man, identified as James Mussa, who broke into the office of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director Alex Nampota in the city on Wednesday night.

Blantyre Police Station assistant public relations officer Lameck Thembachako and ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala confirmed the arrest on Thursday.

“I can confirm that a person was found and arrested at our premises. He is in police custody. It is a police matter,” said Ndala.

Thembachako, in an interview, said Mussa is being interrogated at the police station on how he beat the security and the motive of breaking into Nampota’s office.

“He broke into the office of the director which is on the third floor [of the building that previously housed National Bank of Malawi head office]. The guards at the premises reported the matter to police,” he said.

Armed police stormed the building in Blantyre central business district (CBD) and arrested the man.

Thembachako said guards at ACB offices spotted Mussa at around 9pm, but when they went up to check who it was, Mussa reportedly tried to slide down on pipes connected to air conditioners before he  suddenly disappeared. Later, it was discovered he had broken into Nampota’s office.

In December last year, a gang of unidentified criminals also stormed ACB offices in Blantyre and threatened to burn it unless the bureau dropped investigations into the K400 million scandal the ACB and the National Audit Office were then investigating at the Accountant General’s office.

Nampota was then quoted as having said the bureau had launched investigations into the possible obstruction of ACB officers in an investigation.