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| National |
| Bingu stops Muluzi probe |
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by
Mabvuto Banda, 17 October 2004
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09:08:44
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President Bingu wa Mutharika is said to have ordered Director of Public Prosecutions, Ishmael Wadi, to withdraw his directive to Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) to impound 111 vehicles belonging to former president Bakili Muluzi.
Nation Online investigations this week confirmed that Mutharika sent his political advisor Francis Mphepo on Wednesday last week to Attorney-General Ralph Kasambara with instructions to stop the DPP’s orders.
Wadi on Thursday admitted in an interview that there was some political interference citing a note written by Mphepo to Kasambara with instructions to drop the matter.
“But my stand on this still remains the same and if MRA decides to ignore my directive, an issue of corruption will arise and the law will take its course,” Wadi warned.
Kasambara, however, said he was not aware of the note, “but I am supposed to meet Mr. Mphepo and I don’t know what he wants me for.”
When asked to explain if he was acting on presidential instructions, Mphepo said he was ignorant about both the note and the meeting with the Attorney-General.
“I am not aware about such instructions. I am not involved at all and I haven’t met the Attorney-General for sometime now,” he said.
According to Section 101 (2) of the Constitution, the DPP shall be subject only to the general or special directions of the Attorney General but shall otherwise act independent of the direction or control of any other authority or person and in strict accordance with the law.
Chief of Staff Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, a close aide to Mutharika, on Thursday distanced himself from the saga, saying that he has not met the President in the last few days.
Nation Online investigations show that MRA has since not carried the DPP’s order written on 5 October, 2004. They instead decided to challenge it.
A letter from Commissioner General Ernest Mtingwi to Wadi, two days after the order, asks for a discussion with the Minister of Finance and the Solicitor General on the matter before any decision is made.
The letter dated October 7, 2004, also asked the DPP not to impound the vehicles but rather calculate duty on the vehicles so that the issue has to do with revenue collection.
Wadi confirmed having received the letter but insisted that he did not see the logic in MRA discussing the issue with the Minister and the Solicitor-General “because it is very clear that an offence was committed”.
The DPP cited a letter written by former legal adviser to Customs Department, Dominic Mpango in 1995 to the Solicitor-General where tax collectors were asking government to clarify the President Benefits & Salaries Act as regards the importation of items duty free.
“In this letter, Mpango said this issue was causing implementation uncertainties which could only be resolved by the Solicitor-General’s advice. Mpango said that in Customs language ‘personal use’ is understood to mean use to the exclusion of others,” Wadi said.
He wondered why the Customs Department used the ‘personal use’ provision to clear the vehicles in question.
“Muluzi was not at all entitled to get any vehicles duty free under the Act. The word ‘items’ in the Act does not cover vehicles because the same Act says a president is entitled to free transport and if Parliament had intended to allow him that privilege they would have specifically mentioned that like with the Vice President,” the DPP said.
The former DPP Fahad Assani came under public scrutiny when opposition parties and rights groups suspected political interference.
Muluzi is alleged to have avoided paying millions of Kwacha in duty when he used his privilege to bring over a hundred vehicles into the country.
Last week lawyers argued that the former president abused his office because “it is clear that the vehicles are not for personal use, but institutional.”
Ironically, MRA insists that Muluzi did not err because he used his privilege, but UDF say Muluzi used the Political Parties Act which allows parties to import duty free items during election time. |
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