|
Former President Bakili Muluzi ordered the Anti-Corruption Bureau boss Justice Micheal Mtegha to stop investigation into whether Aford President Chakufwa Chihana bribed his MPs to vote for the Open Terms Bill in 2001.
Different sources in government and at the ACB disclosed this week this is the reason why the new administration decided to remove Mtegha and appoint Gustave Kaliwo as the Bureau’s new director.
“The investigation was stopped by Muluzi through a verbal order to Mtegha as soon as he assumed the position. Mtegha asked all of us to drop the case immediately and since then the files have been lying gathering dust but that has changed. We are now finalising the findings,” said a source close to the probe.
Yesterday Justice Mtegha, who has since gone back to Supreme Court, denied having stopped the investigations.
“Maybe, but I don’t think it is true. The President (Bingu wa Mutharika) has only told me that he is trying to reshuffle staff at ACB and that’s the only reason,” Mtegha said.
The former president could also not be reached this week. His personal assistant Timpuza Mvula could also not be reached to facilitate the interview.
But the Bureau’s spokesperson, Egrita Ndala, explained that investigations stalled because some cases take a long time depending on the willingness of witnesses.
The Bureau is, however, on record as saying 40 MPs from both sides in the House were called for statements on the allegations of receiving bribes from either Chihana or MCP President John Tembo.
“Some MPs claimed they declined the offer while others showed evidence that he invited them to his Area 43 house in Lilongwe and gave out money for them to vote for the amendment,” the source said.
Former MP for Karonga North East Greene Mwamondwe said the Bureau interviewed 12 Aford MPs who all testified against Chihana.
Mwamondwe said: “I was visited twice by ACB at my house in Karonga and I gave the evidence I had on Chihana and how my colleague Jimmy Mponda Mkandawire refused the K100,000 ($926).”
“It’s good to hear that the ACB is getting ready to take Chihana to court because this is what we have been waiting for,” Mwamondwe said.
Nation Online managed to trace other Aford MPs who appeared before the Bureau and testified.
Former Mzuzu City MP Rodger Nkhwazi confirmed having been interviewed by the Bureau twice.
“They found me in Mzuzu and I told them what I knew about how Chihana was giving out money. I told them that I was never approached because Chihana knew my position on the amendment,” Nkhwazi said.
Another former MP, Manifesto Kayira, who was then publicity secretary for Aford, confirmed the ACB probe and said he told them about the money that Chihana was giving out to vote for the Open Terms Bill.
But Khwauli Msiska, the mover of the Open Terms motion in Parliament, last week said he was never contacted by the ACB.
“I am surprised that as the mover of the motion, I am just hearing that I have been implicated and the ACB has never ever asked me anything or got any statement from me,” he said.
Jimmy Mponda Mkandawire leaked the information to the press when Chihana called him and several other MPs to Chihana’s Area 43 residence where he gave out the monies.
Chihana is on record as having told The Nation that he did not see anything wrong with giving MPs K100,000 as a token of appreciation to his MPs.
The Open Terms Bill failed when the UDF failed to get the required two thirds majority. A total of 125 MPs voted for the amendment while 59 rejected it.
|
