ACB vows to fight  K70bn DPP SG claim

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)director  Reyneck Matemba has said he is ready to fight in court against the K70 billion compensation claim that has seen some quarters raising eyebrows.

He has also vowed to protect public funds by not tolerating political interference as the bureau investigates cases and prosecutes suspects.

Matemba was speaking in Lilongwe yesterday when addressing members of the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee who demanded a report on the bureau’s operations.

Among other issues, the committee was concerned that ACB may have lost some cases because of political interference.

The committee had earlier expressed concern over how businessperson Greselder Jeffrey, who is a parliamentarian and secretary general of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is suing the government for K70 billion compensation after winning a case she and three others were accused of abusing K187 million.

Matemba, who became head of the ACB last year after serving as deputy director general for several years, said he will ensure that he fights in court to save public funds.

“If the technocrats that were there then made right decisions, we couldn’t have been here right now, where government is sued. This could have been avoided.

“ACB did its best to take the matter to court. But there were some officers and offices in the public sector that made the decisions causing us the problems now,” he reported.

Added Matemba: “It is unfortunate that politics seemed to have been involved …and the ruling was based on technical grounds. ACB tried to appeal but our efforts were frustrated with the processes and the time of appeal lapsed.”

In his response, he also said the ACB is sometimes paralysed by delayed funding from the government. Some committee members were clearly shocked to hear that some ACB officers sometimes sacrifice greatly by using their own resources in pursuing some cases.

Meanwhile, the committee members stressed the need for treating with urgency issues involving the government as they lead to loss of billions of kwacha which could have benefitted poor Malawians.

The committee‘s Maxwell Thyolera said government should show seriousness in fighting corruption and any other crime by, among others, funding the prosecuting agencies in time.

“The ACB told us that they fail to carry out some of their work effectively because they have no resources and, sometimes, a cheque takes three months to be approved, in the process affecting their operations. So, I urge the government to ensure that these institutions are well equipped to do their work properly,” he added.

Reflected Thyolera: “The issue of Jeffery has reached this far because of the delays in prosecuting the case. The damages, to the tune of K70 billion, are too much; this is [tantamount to] milking from the meagre resources we have.”

In their K70 billion claim from the government, Jeffrey and the other three are suing for loss of business, defamation and malicious prosecution, among other matters.

The claim comes after the court acquittal in the K187 million case during the Bakili Muluzi administration when she and some Ministry of Education officials were accused to have stolen public funds in an  audit report of March 2000 that exposed the alleged scam.