June 24. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima, has rejected the accusations of corruption made against him by the Anti-Corruption Office, which led the President, Lazarus Chakwera, to take away all powers due to his inability to dismiss him.
The spokesperson for the Vice Presidency of Malawi, Pilirani Phiri, stated that “Chilima takes note of the content of the report by the Anti-Corruption Office” and added that “the report does not present details of alleged criminal conduct.”
Thus, he has stated that the body has accused Chilima without evidence and has criticized that he has not previously presented his suspicions to be able to rule on them during the investigations, according to the ‘Nyasa Times’ newspaper.
“Instead, a biased narrative has been sustained for months that has incited public hatred against the named individuals, who watch helplessly as their lives are ruined as they wait for the opportunity to tell their side of the story,” Phiri said.
In this regard, he underlined that “there is a deep sense of a lack of justice” and pointed out that “although the office’s efforts against corruption deserve everyone’s unwavering support, this fight must be carried out within the margins of the law”.
“A requirement of the law is that every person is considered innocent until a competent court declares him guilty and that the accusations of criminal acts are made in the framework of judicial procedures,” he noted.
Finally, he indicated that Chilima “means that he entered public service to serve the interests of the people of Malawi and has never been involved in perverted or criminal plots, as suggested by the Anti-Corruption Office.”
The vice president’s name has appeared on the ‘Sattar’ list of the Anti-Corruption Office, an organization that suspects that Chilima and other officials received money from businessman Zuneth Sattar.
Chakwera prevailed in the 2020 elections, which were held after the presidential elections held in 2019 – in which former president Peter Mutharika was re-elected – were annulled by the courts due to irregularities recorded during the process.
After that, the new president promised in his inaugural speech at the end of June 2020 to fight corruption in the country and asked the judicial apparatus “to do more to end the culture of corruption and selective justice”, although members of his own Executive have been embroiled in corruption scandals.
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