Zuneth Sattar hit with ‘state capture’ charges
The indictment follows a multi-year investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, and marks the first time Sattar has faced criminal proceedings over the allegations.
Jack McBrams in Lilongwe
In a scandal likened to that of the Guptas in South Africa, a British-Malawian businessman has been indicted in the United Kingdom on 18 counts of bribery. Zuneth Sattar is accused of orchestrating a sprawling corruption network in Malawi.
The charges, filed in Westminster on Friday, place Sattar at the centre of what prosecutors describe as an elaborate scheme to secure multimillion-dollar contracts by bribing senior Malawian public officials.
The indictment follows a multi-year investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, and marks the first time Sattar has faced criminal proceedings over the allegations.
Among the high-profile officials named in court documents as alleged beneficiaries are Malawi’s late vice president Saulos Chilima (who died in a plane crash in 2024); State House chief of staff Prince Kapondamgaga; and former top cop George Kainja. Even the former head of the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, Reyneck Matemba, has been implicated.
If convicted, Sattar faces prison time, fines, and potential asset forfeiture.
Though Malawian authorities had previously frozen Sattar’s accounts and arrested officials linked to him, they failed to extradite or prosecute him.
In a national address in 2022, President Lazarus Chakwera admitted over $150-million in contracts were awarded to Sattar-linked companies from 2017 to 2021, largely by the police and defence forces.
He pledged sweeping procurement and governance reforms. But the domestic investigation has since stalled. Some suspects were released on bail, while others challenged their arrests.
Sattar denies any wrongdoing, and his legal team in London is expected to contest the charges on jurisdictional and evidentiary grounds.