Malawi: Ex-president’s property seized

Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau has seized the property of the country's former president Bakili Muluzi as a bond to the corruption case.

The ACB which is still conducting investigations in the case in which Muluzi is accused of diverting donor money amounting to $ 11 million into his account, has since said it has seized his multimillion residence in the commercial city of Blantyre.

The graft bursting body is also said to have seized 44 of the ex-president’s 149 vehicles, Keza Office Park and all his bank accounts. The former president is currently in the United Kingdom where he is reported to be seeking medical attention.

The ACB Public Relations Officer Egrita Ndala was quoted by the country’s local daily -The Daily Times - as saying that the Bureau was still conducting investigations.

“The Anti-Corruption Bureau is still conducting investigations in relation to other property in order to ascertain ownership. It is difficult to say which other properties are earmarked for seizure,” said Ndala.

Recently the former president was stopped from travelling to the UK and his travel documents seized over information that he was going there for good. He however, was given a go ahead to travel before the ACB pounced on his property as a bond once he loses the case and does not return.

Reports in the country quoted Muluzi’s lawyer Jai Banda as saying that he has applied for dismissal of the seizure warrant. The ex-president was once arrested over the same corruption case.