Inspector General says hands tied on police fraud

BY ALICK PONJE:

Inspector General (IG) of Police, Rodney Jose, has said he cannot act on the institution’s former director of finance— now Central Region Commissioner of Police— Innocent Bottoman because his office has not received formal communication from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Bottoman has been implicated in a leaked ACB investigation report of a contract between the Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Pioneer Investments.

The report, which ACB has since owned, recommends that the cop should be prosecuted alongside Pioneer Investments owner, Zameer Karim, for allegedly defrauding the Malawi Government and acquiring proceeds of crime totalling K1.4 billion.

It also recommends that the two should be charged for allegedly forging and uttering false documents.

But, in an interview Monday, Jose said MPS can only act on Bottoman after ACB formally writes him, informing him that it is investigating any of its officers.

“My office has not received any communication of investigations by the ACB. I am just hearing [of issues related to] this through the media. So I will not take any action on any officer when I have not received any communication,” Jose said.

Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security Principal Secretary, Sam Madula, also said the ministry cannot take any action on Bottoman based on media reports.

He insisted that, as far as his ministry is concerned, there is no issue regarding any fraud investigations involving MPS and that, if anything, action can only be taken if the ministry receives a report of recommendations from the security agency.

“We are taking that as just a social media issue. Let the police write us if there is an issue and we may take it up from there. In fact, we have not seen the so-called ACB report. So, to us, it does not exist. To us, the story is not there,” Madula said Monday.

When we put to him that the ACB has owned the report and that the matter has been in the public domain for some time now, such that the ministry was supposed to take some action, Madula insisted that everything remains hearsay until formal communication has been made to the ministry.

He also said it was the responsibility of the police high command to take action on any officer implicated in corruption, if necessary.

In a separate interview, ACB Director General, Reyneck Matemba, said, normally, it is after a public officer has been arrested and charged that the bureau can write the employer, advising that the concerned officer be interdicted.

“The report that was leaked had not been finalised. It was supposed to go to the Legal and Prosecutions Department [which] sits down and looks at the evidence and facts. Then it comes to me and, if I am convinced with the evidence, I obtain consent from the [Director of Public Prosecutions] to prosecute the case.

“Once we arrest and charge a person, we write the employer and enclose the Warrant of Arrest and the charge sheet so that the employer can take action. So, I am not surprised that they cannot act on their officer,” Matemba said.