Police Chief Arrested Over $150m Corruption Scandal

Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested former police chief George Kainja two days after he was sacked from the service.

He has been charged in connection with a $150m (£123m) corruption scandal involving government contracts.

The president sacked him on Tuesday after the ACB named him as one of 53 current and former officials who had received money from, or helped, British-Malawian businessman Zuneth Sattar between 2017 and 2021 while Mr. Satter denies such wrongdoing.

A statement from the ACB indicated that Mr. Kainja had been arrested “for receiving advantage” from Mr. Satter when he was awarded a contract worth $875,000 to supply 350,000 food rations to the Malawi Police Service.

“The investigations conducted by the bureau established that Dr. George Kainja solicited an advantage in form of a vehicle and $8,000,” the ACB statement, made available to the BBC, said.

Mr. Kainja has appeared in court in the capital, Lilongwe, where he denied the charges and was granted bail at the hearing.

The ACB also arrested Mwabi Kaluba on Thursday. He is a former deputy police commissioner accused of corruptly obtaining $20,000 from the British businessman “as an advantage for assisting in the procurement contract of the food ration packs”.

Mr. Kaluba has not yet appeared in court or commented on the allegations.