JURIST - Paper Chase: Malawi president demands top prosecutor resign over dropped corruption charges

[JURIST] Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika [BBC profile] on Thursday called for the resignation of Ishmael Wadi, Director of Public Prosecutions, who in July dropped [JURIST report] corruption charges against former President Bakili Muluzi [BBC profile] on the eve of Muluzi's trial. Mutharika, who was elected as Muluzi's hand-picked successor on a platform of ending government corruption, suspended the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) [official website] in July before the charges were dropped. Wadi previously said the charges against Muluzi were dropped because after the ACB director was fired, no one was left to prosecute the government's case [Herald report] because under Malawi procedure, only the ACB director can prosecute such cases.

Muluzi, who ruled Malawi [CIA backgrounder] from 1994 to 2004, had been charged with 42 counts of corruption, fraud and theft arising from allegations that he directed campaign contributions into his personal accounts through the Malawi embassy in Tunisia. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...