US embassy cable - 04LILONGWE1016

UNCLAS LILONGWE 001016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EB/IFD/ODF MARLENE BREEN 
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OMA FRANCES CHISHOLM 
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/AFRICA LUKAS KOHLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014 
TAGS: KCOR, PGOV, ECON, EFIN, PINR, MI, Anti Corruption Bureau 
SUBJECT: MALAWI'S FORMER FINANCE MINISTER ARRESTED FOR 
CORRUPTION 
 
REF: LILONGWE 839 
 
1.  (U) Former Minister of Finance Friday Jumbe was arrested 
on October 27 as he attempted to leave Malawi for South 
Africa.  Though the Director of Public Prosecutions, the 
Anti-Corruption Bureau, and Jumbe's lawyer have not publicly 
said what charges Jumbe faces, his arrest is widely thought 
to be related to the 2002 maize scandal (reftel).  The ACB 
has also reportedly ordered Jumbe to hand over an inventory 
of his assets within seven days. According to unconfirmed 
reports, Jumbe was picked up at Blantyre's Chileka Airport as 
he tried to board a flight for South Africa, ostensibly to 
buy parts to repair his Mercedes. 
 
2. (SBU) Since the release two months ago of an independent 
commission's report on the maize scandal, the public has 
demanded prosecution of those responsible.  The maize scandal 
is the perhaps the most sensitive of several pending 
corruption cases, both because it entailed profit-taking from 
a starvation-relief program, and because the commission's 
report implicated several very high-ranking GOM officials. 
 
2.  (SBU) COMMENT. Jumbe is a stalwart Muluzi loyalist and 
erstwhile senior official in the nominally ruling United 
Democratic Front (UDF).  His arrest follows a clear split 
between President Bingu wa Mutharika and former President 
Bakili Muluzi's loyalists within the UDF; it is the second 
arrest of a Muluzi minister on corruption or financial crimes 
charges since Mutharika took office in May.  Several senior 
UDF officials have also been arrested on corruption charges. 
GILMOUR