By Jones Gadama
Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commandant of the National Defence College, Brigadier General Dan Kuwali, has been implicated in corruption charges facing Malawian businessman Zuneth Sattar in the United Kingdom.
Sattar is facing 18 charges related to bribing foreign officials, with Kuwali’s name specifically mentioned in connection to alleged bribery.
According to the charges, Sattar allegedly bribed Kuwali, intending to influence his capacity as a foreign public official between April 1, 2021, and May 31, 2021. If found guilty, Sattar faces a potential 12-month jail term and/or unlimited fines on each charge.
Others named alongside Kuwali include late former Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima, State House Chief of Staff Prince Kapondamgaga, and former Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General (IG) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Reyneck Matemba.
The UK’s National Crimes Agency (NCA) arrested Sattar in 2021 for alleged corruption deals in Malawi.
In Malawi, the ACB had frozen Sattar’s bank accounts pending investigations into allegations of bribery, but later unfroze them after determining that the accounts in question weren’t directly receiving payments from the Malawi Government.
Kuwali’s reputation as a distinguished military officer and academic stands in contrast to these serious allegations.
With a background in international law and human rights, Kuwali has served as a Visiting Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund University, and as an Extraordinary Professor of International Law at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.