Muluzi's passport seized
2009-06-21 16:46
Blantyre - Malawi prosecutors said on Sunday they have confiscated the passport and air tickets of ex-president Bakili Muluzi, who was to travel to Britain for a medical check-up, pending a graft investigation.
"We have seized Muluzi's passport to investigate him on some things," Alex Nampota, head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), told AFP.
Muluzi was due to travel to Britain on Sunday, where he goes frequently for medical attention.
Nampota, the ACB's director of public prosecutions, obtained a high court order to seize the documents from Muluzi, saying in an affidavit that the former president posed a flight risk.
Alleged theft of $12m
The bureau has charged Muluzi, who ruled the southern African nation from 1994 to 2004, with graft over the alleged theft of $12m in aid money.
Nampota said he also obtained another seizure warrant for Muluzi's property, in order to "recover the money" should Muluzi lose the graft case in a trial that has yet to begin.
Muluzi is the most senior figure to face graft charges in a sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched by President Bingu wa Mutharika, his successor and estranged protege.
Muluzi said in the Sunday Nation newspaper that he was "disturbed and surprised" that he was stopped from "going to hospital for complicated surgeries" which could not done in Malawi.
"I don't think this country should be treating the former leaders like that," newspaper quoted him as saying.
Jai Banda, a lawyer for Muluzi, said he will challenge the ACB order on Monday.
He said Muluzi had a "lot of interests" in Malawi and would not abscond his trial.
"There is nothing to stop him from coming back as he has not been convicted of any case," he said.
The graft charges were first raised in 2006 but were withdrawn by the former director of public prosecutions, Ishmael Wadi. Mutharika revived the charges last year when Nampota was appointed.
- SAPA
