BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi Law Society (MLS) has openly challenged Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Fostino Maele over his decision to discontinue the high-profile corruption case against Chinese national Lin Yunhua, warning that the move risks fatally damaging public confidence in the country’s anti-corruption fight and fuels perceptions that justice is being selectively applied.
In one of its strongest public interventions in recent years, the country’s lawyers’ body questioned both the timing and justification for withdrawing the case before it has been tested in court, while raising concerns over what it described as an apparent conflict of interest involving the DPP.
“The Society has also learnt, with grave concern, of the pending application by the Anti-Corruption Bureau to withdraw criminal proceedings in Criminal Case Number 5 of 2025: The Republic v Lin Yunhua… at the direction of the DPP,” the Society said in a statement released Thursday.
The lawyers said there was no convincing public interest in terminating a corruption prosecution before the evidence had been subjected to judicial scrutiny.
“The Society questions why a corruption-related case should be discontinued without the evidence being subjected to judicial scrutiny,” it said.
The statement takes an even sharper turn by pointing to the DPP’s previous professional relationship with the accused, saying the circumstances create a perception that cannot simply be ignored.
“The Society is further concerned that the accused person was previously a client of Mr. Maele before his appointment as DPP. This creates an apparent conflict of interest,” the Society said.
It urged Maele to step back from the decision.
“The Society urges Mr. Maele to reconsider his position and to avoid any perception that prosecutorial power is being exercised for personal or improper purposes.”
The Lin Yunhua matter is only one of several discontinued prosecutions that have alarmed the country’s legal profession.
While acknowledging that the Constitution grants the Director of Public Prosecutions powers to discontinue criminal proceedings, the Malawi Law Society says a worrying pattern has emerged since Maele assumed office.
“The pattern of discontinued cases is troubling,” the Society said, adding that information available to it indicates that “many of the affected cases involve political figures aligned with the current government and/or former clients of Mr. Maele.”
Without accusing the DPP of wrongdoing, the Society warned that the growing perception of selective prosecution threatens the credibility of the criminal justice system.
“Equality before the law must apply to all persons without discrimination. In a country with a poor Corruption Perception Index score, the recent pattern of discontinuances is a matter of grave public concern,” it said.
The Society has now called for constitutional reforms that would strengthen parliamentary oversight over decisions by the DPP to discontinue criminal prosecutions.
It proposes giving the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament authority to direct the reinstatement of cases where reasons for discontinuance are found to be unreasonable, while allowing interested parties to challenge such decisions before the courts.
The blistering criticism comes as the Malawi Law Society paints a bleak picture of the country’s governance 62 years after independence.
The Society says there was little for Malawians to celebrate on this year’s Independence Day, arguing that corruption, weakening public institutions, delayed judicial reforms and deteriorating economic conditions have eroded the ideals upon which independence was founded.
“For most Malawians, the day passed like any other day. There was nothing really to celebrate,” the statement reads.
It also criticised government for delaying the operationalisation of key judicial reforms despite repeated public commitments, questioned the failure to swear in members of the Judicial Service Commission, and condemned the continued failure to appoint a substantive Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau more than two years after the position fell vacant.
The Society warned that prolonged acting appointments in critical governance institutions weaken accountability and undermine the fight against corruption.
It further linked corruption and abuse of public office to Malawi’s worsening socio-economic crisis, saying nepotism, misuse of public resources and weak governance continue to deprive citizens of development while forcing thousands to seek opportunities abroad.
Concluding its statement, the Malawi Law Society urged the government to demonstrate that no one is above the law.
“The promise of independence will remain incomplete unless public power is exercised lawfully, public resources are protected, and every citizen can live with dignity under a just and accountable constitutional order,” the Society said.
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