The head of Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Martha Chizuma, was released on bail on Tuesday following her arrest after an audio was leaked in which she complained about the government’s alleged lack of support in the fight against corruption.
Chizuma was charged with «making a speech capable of prejudicing a person in judicial proceedings», in specific reference to Malawi’s attorney general, Steven William Kayuni, according to the newspaper ‘The Nation’.
In the audio leaked in April, the ACB chief calls Kayuni «corrupt» and «compromised» in alleged corruption cases, which led to his arrest. The president, Lazarus Chakwera, rejected calls to dismiss her for violating her obligation to keep investigations secret.
Chakwera won the 2020 elections, which were held after the presidential elections held in 2019 — in which former president Peter Mutharika won re-election — were annulled by the courts because of irregularities during the process.
Following this, the new president promised in his inaugural speech at the end of June 2020 to fight corruption in the country and called on the judicial apparatus to «do more to end the culture of corruption and selective justice», although members of his own Executive have been involved in corruption scandals.
