BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Police officer, who was arrested mid last month in connection with last year’s murder of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director of Corporate Affairs, Issa Njauju is reportedly missing.
Mid last month, the police confirmed of the arrest of the police officer who was based at Mchinji Police Station.
However, police spokesperson Thomeck Nyaude told Malawi News that he does not have any information on that matter.
Nyaude said so far no fresh arrests have been made.
“I do not have any report to say there is any suspect who was arrested on allegations of having any hand in the murder of the late Njaunju. We have had no arrest of a police officer for the last two or three months,” he said as quoted by Malawi News.
According to sources at Mchinji Police Station and Lumbadzi Police Station, the police officer was taken to Lumbadzi Police Station and later to National Police Headquarters.
The sources at Mchinji Police Station said the officer has not yet returned to his post ever since the incident happened.
Reports say he was apprehended after he picked a quarrel with his female friend, to whom he had confided his involvement in the murder of Njauju.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of Centre for Human rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Timothy Mtambo, has faulted the police for not giving enough information on the whereabouts of the officer in question, considering the interest people have in the Njauju case.
“I think it is actually worrisome to say the least because these are the reports that we had. To hear that the officer is nowhere to be seen is quite unacceptable. It raises a lot of questions to say why hide and seek.
“The issue of Njauju is a national one. We lost one of the directors at the ACB, in a mysterious way. So, whenever someone has been arrested as a suspect, it raises the interest of the citizens. Citizens have the right to know why this hide and seek,” Mtambo said in an interview with the local paper.
He added: “Let them investigate and tell us where this person is. This person is employed by them. Let them confirm to us that this person is at the working station and is working. If they have transferred him, let them tell the nation. If at all he has been transferred, they should tell the nation. It’s like they are trying to hide him, or something mysterious has happened to this person again.”
Njauju was killed early July last year and his body was found half buried behind the presidential villas in Lilongwe while his official vehicle was found burnt to ashes in Mtsiriza, a slum which is a few kilometres west of Bingu National Stadium.
His killing was linked to his job, particularly activities relating to investigations on the plunder of public funds dubbed Cashgate.