Platform for Investigative Journalism in Malawi (PIJ) webpage has been hacked.
The publication has confirmed the attack on its website this evening through a Facebook Post.
“Our website has been hacked by an unknown group and readers cannot access it at the moment. We are working with our IT team to retrieve it and resume the important work of publishing public interest journalism. The public will be notified once we have retrieved our website,” PIJ said inthe statement posted on Facebook page.
This comes barely a week Malawi Police confiscated computers and gadgets belonging to PIJ and the arbitrary arrest of its director, Gregory Gondwe.
On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, Police in Blantyre detained Gondwe, Platform for Investigative Journalism Managing Director, for about six hours over a controversial report titled “Government Pay Corruption Suspect Sattar for ‘Restricted’ Contract Under ACB Probe“.
The report revealed that the Government had paid K1.3 billion for a contract belonging to businessman Zuneth Sattar despite the contract, and several others, still being under a restriction order by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for possible corruption.
The contract is for supply of eight anti-riot water cannons which the Malawi Police Service (MPS) procured from Sattar-owned company, Malachite FZE.
The Attorney General (AG) Thabo Nyirenda, whose office in January this year publicly terminated all Sattar contracts with the government including the water cannons contract in question approved the payment privately in a legal opinion sent to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
However, almost six hours after the arrest, the Police released Gondwe on bail but held on to the computer and phone they confiscated overnight before returning them in the morning of Wednesday, April 6, 2022, raising Gondwe’s privacy concerns.
The arrest of Gondwe came after the AG Chakaka Nyirenda threatened to deal with people responsible for leaking his decision.
PIJ over the past months has been publishing investigative about theft of billions of Kwacha by businesspersons through questionable procurement deals at Malawi Police, Malawi Immigration and Maalwi Defence Force.
