MALAWI'S FORMER FINANCE MINISTER ARRESTED FOR

UNCLAS LILONGWE 001016

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EB/IFD/ODF MARLENE BREEN
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OMA FRANCES CHISHOLM
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/AFRICA LUKAS KOHLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014
TAGS: KCOR PGOV ECON EFIN PINR MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI'S FORMER FINANCE MINISTER ARRESTED FOR
CORRUPTION

REF: LILONGWE 839


1. (U) Former Minister of Finance Friday Jumbe was arrested
on October 27 as he attempted to leave Malawi for South
Africa. Though the Director of Public Prosecutions, the
Anti-Corruption Bureau, and Jumbe's lawyer have not publicly
said what charges Jumbe faces, his arrest is widely thought
to be related to the 2002 maize scandal (reftel). The ACB
has also reportedly ordered Jumbe to hand over an inventory
of his assets within seven days. According to unconfirmed
reports, Jumbe was picked up at Blantyre's Chileka Airport as
he tried to board a flight for South Africa, ostensibly to
buy parts to repair his Mercedes.


2. (SBU) Since the release two months ago of an independent
commission's report on the maize scandal, the public has
demanded prosecution of those responsible. The maize scandal
is the perhaps the most sensitive of several pending
corruption cases, both because it entailed profit-taking from
a starvation-relief program, and because the commission's
report implicated several very high-ranking GOM officials.


2. (SBU) COMMENT. Jumbe is a stalwart Muluzi loyalist and
erstwhile senior official in the nominally ruling United
Democratic Front (UDF). His arrest follows a clear split
between President Bingu wa Mutharika and former President
Bakili Muluzi's loyalists within the UDF; it is the second
arrest of a Muluzi minister on corruption or financial crimes
charges since Mutharika took office in May. Several senior
UDF officials have also been arrested on corruption charges.
GILMOUR