VZCZCXRO9500
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLG #0708 2261012
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141012Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3135
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC 0459
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000708 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/S KAMANA MATHUR 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
USAID FOR AFR/SA IAN MACNAIRN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KCOR MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI SCORES ANOTHER CORRUPTION CONVICTION 
 
1.(U) Summary: Malawi's High Court recently sentenced the 
former Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Education (the 
highest ranking civil servant in the Ministry) to two years in 
prison after finding him guilty of corruption.  This is the 
first high-profile corruption conviction in over six months, 
and comes amid controversy over President Mutharika's 
dismissal of senior prosecutors and the discontinuance of 
corruption charges against former President Bakili Muluzi. 
End Summary. 
 
A SMALL PART OF A BIG SCAM 
-------------------------- 
 
2.(U) Sam Safuli, who was suspended in 2000 as principal 
secretary, was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison 
 
SIPDIS 
with hard labor for authorizing 100,000 kwatcha ($714) worth 
of construction contract payments for work that was never 
completed.  The High Court also convicted the contractor, his 
wife, and another Ministry official for graft and document 
forgery in connection with the case. 
 
¶3. (U) The conviction is a small part of a long-running case 
popularly known as the "187 Million Kwacha Scam" in which 
government officials allegedly received kickbacks for 
construction contracts that were never fulfilled.  Vice- 
President Cassim Chilumpha was implicated in the scam as the 
then-Minister of Finance, for supposedly authorizing the phony 
contracts.  Chilumpha late last year filed a motion claiming 
he is immune from prosecution in the case, and is currently 
awaiting a constitutional court ruling on that question. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Safuli case indicates that Malawi's anti- 
corruption effort proceeds apace, even while controversy 
swirls around President Mutharika's recent suspension of the 
Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and his request for the 
resignation of the country's chief prosecutor over the 
discontinuance of the corruption case against former president 
Muluzi.  The conviction serves as a warning to civil servants 
that malfeasance will be prosecuted, even long after the fact 
and when the amounts are relatively small. 
 
¶5. (SBU) From Mutharika's public remarks and our conversations 
with senior officials, it is clear that the president is keen 
to protect his image as a corruption fighter, and he fully 
intends to press ahead with Muluzi's case.  What is less clear 
is the degree to which Mutharika respects the independence of 
Malawi's prosecutors.  The Malawi Law Society, the Human 
Rights Commission and donors have criticized the president for 
his intervention in the case and the manner in which he 
handled the dismissal of the prosecutors.  The firings have 
prompted a healthy and necessary debate over the limits of 
presidential power that has not often been seen in this 
county's short democratic history, and that discussion will 
surely continue for some time to come. 
 
EASTHAM