R v Matemba (Criminal Cause 15 of 2023) [2025] MWHC 9 (4 March 2025)

FINANCIAL Cont OF HALA ah yFiNan “CRIMES Dlvision| BB ag: | Oey 04 MAR 2005 Vie LLoNoWwe pe WT eae ens eg IN THE HIGH COURT OF MALAWI LILONGWE DISTRICT REGISTRY FINANCIAL CRIMES DIVISION CRIMINAL CAUSE NO. 15 OF 2023 BETWEEN ‘THE REPUBLIC “AND- REYNECK MATEMBA

Coram

HON. JUSTICE VIOLET PALIKENA-CHIPAO ‘Ms. Lapozo/Mr. Sambani/Mlava, Counsel for the State Accused Person present bu not represented ‘Ms. Mochi, Court Clerk

Chipao, J

RULING ON CASE OR NO CASE TO ANSWER.

1, The Accused Person, Reyneck Matemba, stands charged with two counts of failure to declare interest by a publi officer contrary to section 25D(2\) a8 read together with section 34 ofthe Comrupt Practice Act (herein after the CPA)

2. The particulars of count one were that Reyneck Matemba being a public offiéer and in his capacity as an Ex-Officio Board Member of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority by virtue of his appointment as Solicitor General and Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, on or around 5" June 2021, at Makokola Retreat in Mangochi District, failed to declare his interest in a Board Meeting which reviewed and granted a ‘No Objection’ for the Malawi Police Service to award a contract reference ‘number MPS/SB/16/04/2021 worth of USD7,875,000.00 to Xaviar Limited for the supply and delivery of 350,000 ration packs, despite having knowledge that the Director of Xaviar

f

Limited was Zuneth Abdul Rashid Sattar, also known as Josan or JK, who was his close

associate and had a direct interest in the said contract,

3. The particulars of the second count are that Reyneck Matemba being a public officer by virtue of his appointment as Solicitor General and Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, on or around 15" July 2021, in Lilongwe District, failed to declare his interest and vetted a contract reference number MPS/SB/16/04/2021 worth of 'USD7,875,000.00 between Malawi Police Service and Xaviar Limited, for the supply and delivery of 350,000 ration packs, despite having knowledge that the Director of Xaviar Limited was Zuneth Abdul Rashid Sattar, also known as Josan or JK, who was his close associate and had a direct interest in the said contract,

4. The Accused Person entered a plea of not guilty in respect of the two counts necessitating the calling of witnesses by the Prosecution to prove their case. Fifteen witnesses were called by the Prosecution in proof of the allegations. The Prosecution has now closed its case.

‘The Evidence

5. The State paraded 15 witnesses in proof of the allegations levelled against the Accused Persons. The witnesses were as follows:

1) Prosecution Witness No. 1 (PW1) was Peter Chewo; Deputy Director of Human Resource Management and Development;

2) PW2 was Mrs. Merlyne Yolamu, Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service;

3) PW3 was Mr. Hamza Suwed Laini, an employee of TNM PLC as a loyalty and Rewards Specialist, responsible for supervising officers who work in the KYC (Know Your Customer) section whose primary duty is to verify KYC records;

4) PW was Mr. Sam Chimang'anga, Procurement and Administration Specialist for Export Development Bank Limited and a member of the PPDA Board at the ‘material time;

5) PWS was Miriam Nsomba, Managing Director of an ICT company called Amil Limited and a member of the PPDA Board at the material time

6) PW6 was Mr. Jonathan David Merdith, Liaison Officer for National Crimes Agency (NCA) since March 2020;

7) PW7 was Mark Reeves, Senior Officer from NCA in the United Kingdom(UK) and part of the investigating team that was investigating Zuneth Sattar in relation to bribery offences in UK;

8) PWS was Mr. Isaak Nkhoma, Principal Investigations Officer with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB); 9) PW9 was Mr. Benedicto Chagunda, Principal Systems Analysist with the ACB; 10) PW10 was Mr. Jack Vinthenga, Principal Investigations Officer with the ACB; 11) PW11 was Mrs. Wako Nthilio, Head of KYC at Airtel Malawi; 12) PW12 was Mrs. Jane Jere, holder of National Id number which was used to register hone number 0994338882; 13) PW13 was Mr. Alison Mbang’ombe, Solicitor General and Secretary for Justice in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs” 14) PW14 was MeFaren Jere, Officer In-Charge Quarter Master with the Malawi Police Service at the time of the alleged commission of the offence; and 15) PWIS was Mr. Steve Goru, Principal Investigations Officer with the ACB,

6 PWI was Peter Cheyo. His evidence was that the Accused Person is an employee in the Public Service who served as Director of the ACB before being moved to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs as Solicitor General and Secretary for Justice.

7. PW2 was Merlyn Yolamu. At the time ofthe alleged offence, she was the Deputy Inspector General responsible for Administration (DIG A). By virtual of being DIG A, she was the chairperson of the Internal Procurement and Disposal of Assets Committee (IPDC) of the Malawi Police Service. In her evidence, she explained the procurement process from initiation to the end where a contract is signed.

8. In relation to the charges which related to the procurement of 350, 000 dry rations from

Xavier Limited, PW2 explained that the process started with a requisition which was initiated by the quartermaster for the procurement of dry ration. She explained that the Contract went through various processes before a decision was made to procure from Xavier Limited, the 350, 000 dry ration packs. The process included obtaining of necessary approvals from PPDA. She stated in her evidence that eventually, Malawi Police Service and Xavier Limited entered into a contract for the supply and delivery of 350, 000 packs of dry ration worthy USD7, 875, 000.00 under Contract No. MPS/SB/16/04/2021. The contract was executed on 14" September 2021 by PW2 on behalf of the Malawi Police Service and Mr. Mwabi Kalua (Legal Officer) as witness; and Zuneth Sattar as Director of Xavier Limited and Ashok Kumar as witness. The Contract was tendered as Exhibit P4.

9. In cross examination, PW2 said she could not dispute that at the time of the contract, the Malawi Police Service had been cleared by the ACB to proceed to enter into a contract with Xavier Limited. Upon being referred to correspondence between the ACB and Malawi

Police Service (MPS) dated 29 January 2021; ACB and PPDA dated 29" June 2021 and PPDA and MPS dated 30" June 2021, she said that one can conclude that the PPDA does not grant a no objection before clearance from the ACB.

10. She told the court that the MPS IPDC opted for Xavier Limited after other five potential suppliers fell off along the way for various reasons. The other suppliers were, H. Adams (Malawi Company), Pioneer Investment and One Guard FZE which were dropped because they were under investigations by ACB; Tactical Distributors and Moonstone General ‘Trading were deemed unresponsive by the evaluation team because they lacked experience,

11, PW2 said that Xavier Limited was chosen on merit and not for any other reason. PW2 also

said that the MPS wrote the Accused person on 14" July requesting him to vet the proposed contract to procure dry ration fom Xavier Limited as required by the PPDA in its letter dated 30 June 2021. She acknowledged that at this point, a decision had alreedy been made by the MPS to procure from Xavier Limited and the ACB and PPDA had already vetted the proposed contract and given a No Objection. She also acknowledged that the duty of the Accused Person was just to look at the legal aspects of the contract and not the Procurement issues and that itis the PPDA which has the overall mandate over procurement issues in Malawi.

12. PW2 acknowledged that the leter from the Solicitor General (the Accused Person) dated 15" July 2021 laid down conditions to be fulfilled before the contract is signed by the MPS. ‘The conditions included obtaining clearance from the Government Contracting Unit (GCU) ‘and Secretary to Treasury (ST). She also said that according to the letter, the Accused left the Police with the power to decide whether to enter into a contract or not upon fulfilling the conditions. Although the contract was executed, PW2 said that the MPS paid nothing on the contract and that as far as she knows, no government money was lost on the contract.

13. PW2 was pressed to say whether she had any evidence that the Accused Person committed the offence charged but she repeatedly said that she could not answer that question because hher duty was to explain to the court procedures that the MPS followed in awarding the contract to Xavier Limited,

14. PWS, Mr. Hamza Suwed Laini was responsible for supervising workers who work in the KYC Department of TNM. His evidence was to the effect that cell number 0888978590 was a number registered using driving licence 02161214038507 bearing the name of Reyneck Thokozani Matemba. The number was later updated using national identity card number NTPSODR bearing the same name. His evidence was unchallenged. It is therefore

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