UK Businessman Denies Wrongdoing Over Arms Deal With Impoverished Malawi

A man carries goods on his head as he walks past a flooded road damaged by tropical storm Ana at Thabwa village, in Chikwawa district, southern Malawi, on Jan. 26, 2022. Eldson Chagara/Reuters

A British businessman who is being investigated on suspicion of bribing government officials in Malawi—one of Africa’s poorest nations—over an arms deal, has denied any wrongdoing.

In an interview with The Times of London, Zuneth Sattar, 41, from Leicester said: “I am not corrupt. I am a good person. My fate is in God’s hands.”

Malawi-born Sattar added: “I am hated in Malawi, everyone has turned against me and think I am up to no good. They said I was falsely inflating prices of drinks and other goods I was selling. But that is not true, it is false information. I am very successful, I have done well for my age and sometimes that brings enemies. But I have nothing to hide, I have done nothing wrong.”

Last week Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera fired the inspector general of the Malawi Police Service, George Kainja, and claimed he was among 13 government officials who received money from Sattar between 2017 and 2021.

Chakwera also sought to fire his Vice President, Saulos Chilima, but said he had no constitutional power to do so, adding, “The best I can do for now, which is what I have decided to do, is to withhold from his office any delegated duties while waiting for the bureau to substantiate its allegations against him.”

Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has accused Chilima and 50 other government officials of receiving secret payments in return for granting contracts for the purchase of water cannons, armoured personnel carriers, and mine-proof patrol vehicles for the country’s armed forces.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per head of $636 (£518), compared with $63,207 (£51,485) in the United States and $46,483 (£37,862) in Britain.

‘I Want to Be Charged so I Can Fight and Win’

Sattar told The Times of London: “I would say to the police and Crown Prosecution Service, if you think you have a case against me, charge me. I am innocent of any wrongdoing and I want to be charged so I can fight it and win.”

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) raided his home in Oadby, near Leicester, last year and had seized a pink Bentley and a yellow Lamborghini as part of its investigation, but had not charged him with any criminal offence.

The Times of London said Land Registry documents showed the NCA had frozen a number of Sattar’s assets, including 19 houses in Leicestershire and the Manchester area.

The Epoch Times reached out to the National Crime Agency for comment.