Zuneth Sattar’s Business Associate Ashok Kumar Sreedharan aka Ashok Nair has sued the Anti Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) Director General, Martha Chizuma for defamation in connection to a leaked audio clip that went viral a few weeks ago.
Nair is seeking damages for the alleged defamation according to records in the Lilongwe Registry which has been confirmed by Gladys Gondwe, the Registrar of The High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal.
Ashok Nair, who was remanded to Maula Prison after being denied bail by Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa in December 2021, is facing serious corruption allegations together with Zuneth Sattar for giving bribes to Politically Exposed Persons with the aim of influencing various Malawi Government Departments to corruptly award contracts to companies belonging to Zuneth Sattar.
ACB Investigations also established that Former Lands Minister, Kezzie Msukwa corruptly used his powers on more than one occasion contrary to sections 24 and 25 of the Corrupt Practices Act of Malawi, in some land related matters in Area 46, Lilongwe District and Chipoka in Salima District connected to with Nair and Zuneth Sattar.
Msukwa is said to have benefitted K15,000,000.00 and a Mercedez-Benz from Sattar to intervene on the said land related matter.
In the leaked audio, Martha Chizuma alleges that a High Court Judge pocketed a bribe in order for Ashok Nair to be later released on bail. In the audio, Chizuma expresses sentiments about how she has lost trust in the country’s justice system in the fight against corruption.
Malawian-born businessman Zuneth Sattar was arrested alongside several associates in the United Kingdom and Malawi in October 2021 in a joint operation by Britain’s anti-corruption authorities with Malawi’s ACB.
