MALAWI'S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION CHIEF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 001018

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR AF/S B. NEULING AND A. GALANEK
STATE FOR EB/IFD/ODF
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OMA FRANCES CHISHOLM
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/ AFRICA/ L. KOHLER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCOR ECON EFIN PGOV PREL MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI'S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION CHIEF

REF: A. LILONGWE 839


B. LILONGWE 881

C. LILONGWE 1016

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) The new director of the Anti Corruption Bureau
recently discussed his pending prosecutions and strategic
vision for the agency. He is focusing on five grand
corruption cases, all against senior public figures. He
intends to forego longer-range public outreach and prevention
plans for winning big, current cases with recoverable assets.
End summary.


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FIVE HIGH-LEVEL CASES NOW
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2. (SBU) Econoffs recently paid a courtesy call on the
Gustave Kaliwo, the new director of Malawi's Anti Corruption
Bureau (ACB) (ref B). Kaliwo updated us on the bureau's
leading cases and on the future, the priorities, and the
challenges facing the ACB. Kaliwo's agency has five
high-profile cases facing it at the moment:

- The Apex car case, in which GOM officials colluded to buy
used vehicles for the GOM as new. The case has been prepared
and is awaiting the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP)
approval to prosecute. This case may involve three former
cabinet ministers.

- The Securicom case, involving fraudulent contracts for a
national identity card system, is awaiting DPP approval.

- The Shire Bus Lines case, where CEO Humphrey Mvula has
been arrested and charged with fraudulent deals on buses and
spare parts, was schedule to go to court on October 28.
Coincidentally, Mvula, who was out on bail in the corruption
case, was arrested this week on a murder charge in the death
of a Muslim cleric for political reasons in 2002. Mvula is
the official spokesman of the ruling United Democratic Front
political party.

- The maize scandal, in which former Finance Minister Friday
Jumbe is charged with illegally diverting maize from the
strategic grain reserve for private export. Jumbe was
arrested on October 27 while attempting to flee the country
(ref C). More arrests will likely follow.

- The Ministry of Sports scandal, in which Ministry money was
transferred to UDF operatives to pay for election expenses.
Arrests are expected in the next several days.


3. (SBU) Of his approach to prosecutions, Kaliwo said that he
wanted to be careful not to chase too many cases at once with
his limited staff; he thought half a dozen large cases at a
time was roughly the capacity of his present staff. Kaliwo
has received funding to hire more staff, particularly more
staff prosecutors, but ACB has just confirmed the funding and
begun to advertise for the jobs. Even at double the funding
the bureau has over last year's budget, though, he feels the
GOM should commit itself to still more funding. He stated
strongly that this is a core function of the GOM that should
not rely on donor participation. In his words, Government
must accept that "ACB is their baby."


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CORRUPTION IS STILL MANAGEABLE; FOCUS ON CURRENT CORRUPTION
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4. (SBU) Kaliwo agreed with the commonplace view that
corruption, in the form of grand corruption, had only won a
foothold in Malawi during the Muluzi administration.
Corruption on a cultural level--pervasive petty
corruption--is not yet a problem here and, Kaliwo felt, could
be prevented with prosecutions of big cases. However, some
Government institutions, notably the Immigration Office, have
become corrupt at lower levels, and should be targeted for
investigation. Kaliwo believes a few such prosecutions could
well fix the problem.


5. (SBU) As for the strategic direction of ACB, Kaliwo wants
to reconsider the bureau's five-year plan. He wants to
examine why the ACB has historically failed to deliver, and
base a new strategy on that understanding of past failure to
perform. He indicated that he would likely steer the plan
away from extensive new training, prevention, and public
outreach programs (with the exception of establishing a
24-hour hotline) in favor of focusing more tightly on a
handful of prosecutions. These, he said, should be directed
against big, fairly current malfeasance and, where possible,
on recoverable assets.


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COMMENT: MORE VISION, MORE ENERGY, MORE REALISM
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6. (SBU) The new ACB chief appears to bring to the bureau a
sharper vision and far more energy than his predecessor, a
phlegmatic if distinguished jurist. Put simply, Kaliwo is
all about putting the big guys in jail, and doing it now. He
is clear about the necessity of not spending scarce resources
trying to chase every potential case, nor in pursuing
long-range goals with training and public awareness. We view
this as an appropriate concentration on achieving realistic
short-term goals with modest means.

GILMOUR