BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Some of the customs officers whose recruitment at the Malawi Revenue Authority was challenged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have resorted to legal action to compel the tax collector to proceed with processing their employment.

According to the Nation, 30 of the 100 new recruits want the High Court of Malawi to grant them an injunction to put aside the order and compel the public tax collector to proceed with processing their employment.

The 30 recruits argue that they were recruited on merit and that they went through all the processes including interviews.

Private practice lawyer Chancy Gondwe, who is representing the applicants, confirmed in an interview on Tuesday that his clients will argue in court that they participated in the “rigorous recruitment process” and were awarded employment fairly.

“I have interviewed them as my clients. Most of them deny the allegations. Most of them attended the interviews and met the requirement set by the MRA.

“Unless it is about others who were recruited, but those we are representing, around 32 of them, were exposed to the rigorous interviews and met the criteria set by MRA,” he said as quoted in the Nation.

The ACB stopped MRA from recruiting Revenue Officers over corruption allegations in the recruitment exercise.

A notice from ACB to MRA dated April 15 and issued by ACB Director General Reyneck Matemba stopping the recruitment exercise, said the bureau was investigating an alleged offence under the Corrupt Practices Act which might have been committed in the recruitment process.

The notice was addressed to the tax collector’s Commissioner General.

“Take notice that you shall not without my written consent or otherwise deal with any recruitment processes in relation to any employment of, or proceed with any offer of employment in respect of positions of Revenue Officers currently underway at the Malawi Revenue Authority including offers of employment already made in this regard,” read the notice in part.