Former President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has dragged to court the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for turning down his request to unfreeze his bank account.

ACB Director General Reyneck Matemba disclosed this during a media briefing held in the capital Lilongwe today aimed at updating Malawians on the ongoing cases being handled by the graft-busting body.

In October, Mutharika penned ACB asking them to unfreeze his bank account, arguing that the move has crippled him financially, making his life very difficult as he was surviving on donation from well-wishers.

But ACB rejected Mutharika’s plea.

In August this year ACB frozen bank accounts of former president Peter Mutharika, his wife Getrude Mutharika, former Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Deputy Director General Roza Mbilizi, and Mutharika’s top security aide Norman Chisale.

The development followed their involvement in connection on the importation of duty free 400,000 bags of cement worth K5 billion from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We have frozen two Mutharika accounts; one that is solely owned by the former president and another, a joint account with his wife. One account for Chisale and three accounts for Roza Mbilizi at NBS Bank, National Bank and Standard Bank.

“The accounts have been frozen so that the bureau is able to finalise its investigations on the matter,” one of the sources from ACB was quoted by Daily Times of August 15, 2020.