On 12th October, 2021 the High Court in Lilongwe found engineer Hiwa with a case to answer on the charge of abuse of office.
Hiwa was arrested in 2017 and was also charged with failure to disclose interest in the procurement process contrary to Section 25D (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act and Section 19 (1) of the Public Procurement Act.
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Principal Public Relations Officer Egrita M. Ndala said the Court has acquitted him on the second count but found him with a case to answer for abuse of office.
He will appear in Court on a date to be set by the Court for defence.
Hiwa was arrested in 2017 after the bureau received information alleging that Hiwa and RA Director of Construction Sam Kadangwe recommended Hiwa’s company Infracon Limited to the World Bank to be awarded a contract worth $303,823 (K217 million based on the exchange rate then) for the design and supervision of various roads constructions in Central and Southern Regions of Malawi without the approval of Internal Procurement Committee (IPC) and without declaring interest.
Hiwa claimed that at the time of awarding the contract, Infracon had less workload as compared to other consultants in Malawi.
However, ACB found that no any consultant was contacted to find out if they were free to undertake this contract.
ACB also claimed that Hiwa misinformed Kadangwe that Infracon Limited was cleared by the Office of Director Public Procurement (ODPP) and could do business with Roads Authority.
