By Linda Kwanjana
Human rights and governance experts have called on authorities to ensure that controversial businessman Mahmood Azhar Chaudhry is held responsible for diverting materials meant for the Ministry of Energy under the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (MAREP) Phase 9.
Three companies contracted to supply the materials received upfront payments in 2022 amounting to K1.4 billion but failed to deliver.
Attorney General (AG) Frank Mbeta, while trying to recover the funds through civil litigation, also reported the firms to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
One of the companies, Kumakoka Trading Limited, which received over K523 million upfront, is linked to Chaudhry. The the firm’s owner on record is Grant Kaseko, suspected as a front for Chaudhry.
Chaudhry, in one of the commercial cases before the High Court Commercial Division in Blantyre, where he is fighting with fellow businessmen over business transactions, confessed in a sworn statement that he had dealings with Kumakoka Trading regarding financing of the MAREP contract it had with the Ministry of Energy. Other sources, however, claim that it is his proxy company.
Based on this revelation, human rights activist Joel Chiwere is demanding that Chaudhry be probed by the ACB, and that the AG should also consider roping him into the civil matters in which the government is seeking recovery of funds the companies received as upfront payments for undelivered materials, with interest.
“This was pure fraud. Everyone who played a role must be taken to book. If there is that confession on record in court that he had dealings with one of the companies in relation to this contract, he is aware of what he was doing and what went on,” the activist said.
He added that this is a straightforward matter authorities must act upon and bring those responsible to justice.
Governance expert Brighton Njala said authorities must ensure that taxpayers’ money is protected by prosecuting all individuals who misuse public funds.
He stressed that this was a project meant to uplift lives of people in remote areas, arguing that it is evil for anyone to steal such funds.
The AG is on record as having told Weekend Nation that he reported the disputed MAREP Phase 9 contracts to the ACB as government continues pursuing fund recovery.
The newspaper reported that it had seen court documents where Chaudhry disclosed he had an interest in financing one of the three companies that received upfront payments from the Ministry of Energy but failed to deliver the contracted materials.
The Ministry of Energy sued three companies it accuses of pocketing more than K1.4 billion upfront for MAREP Phase 9 materials but failing to supply.
The firms, Africa Green Economy, Kumakoka Trading Company, and Loui Holdings Group (PTV) Limited, received advance payments for their contracts during the 2022/23 financial year.
In a new twist, in a matter before the High Court in Blantyre Commercial Division filed on July 1, 2026, where Chaudhry was seeking an injunction to stop some individuals from seizing his house in Blantyre, he informed the Court that in 2022 he entered into an oral agreement with the individuals in question for pre-financing and supply of electrical cables for a contract between Kumakoka Trading and MAREP, in which he said he had a commercial interest.
In his claim before the Court, Chaudhry explained that he owns property, Title Number Blantyre Central 242, being a residential house, and that defendants in this case offered to loan him funds, with his cited property as security.
He claims that the loan, agreed at K800,000,000, was never advanced to him, but that the defendants in June this year came to his property accompanied by security officers to seize it, allegedly for his failure to repay the loan.
Earlier, Weekend Nation gathered through court documents and interviews that Africa Green Economy Limited got K698,050,991.00; Kumakoka Trading Company pocketed K523,538,243.57; while Loui Holdings Group is yet to supply cables worth K144,674,756.91.
Our findings also reveal that Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) offered special tariffs to Kumakoka Trading to clear the goods on the basis that the materials were meant for a government entity. However, after the materials were diverted, Kaseko allegedly with support from Chaudhry, sold them on the private market.
In this case, according to analysts, MRA is supposed to demand the appropriate duty from Kumakoka Trading.
Our investigations have also revealed that Chaudhry at one point clashed with Kaseko over the transactions involving the diverted cables, leading to Kaseko’s arrest by Fiscal Police in Lilongwe. He is currently out on bail in that matter.
Chaudhry is reported to have given a false statement to police, claiming that the cables belonged to him, despite knowing they were property of MAREP.
He was fully aware that Kaseko had already received an advance payment from the Ministry of Energy. In addition, Kaseko produced a fake document for the police, purporting to undertake repayment or return of the cables, complete with a police stamp.
The ministry, through the AG’s Chambers, commenced legal action to recover the funds from the three firms, together with interest, damages, and other costs arising from the alleged contract breaches.
According to court documents filed at the High Court Lilongwe District Registry, the ministry commenced the litigations in August 2025.
“So we will recover all the money. Where necessary we will also prosecute the perpetrators for abusing public funds,” said the AG then.
Fiscal Police, according to our findings, has been investigating some of these matters surrounding Kumakoka Trading and Chaudhry on diverted goods that were put on private market since February.
