Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) board Chairperson, Marjorie Maluwa Phiri, has revealed that one person has been arrested in Germany over the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP) deal.

Maluwa revealed this when appearing before a joint Parliamentary committee which is conducting inquiries on various topical issues including the AIP deal.

She has however asked members of the joint committee not to ask her any questions regarding the deal saying the Attorney General is looking into the issue.

Turning to the procurement processes, Maluwa said when it comes to procurement of AIP fertilizer, the ministry is responsible and controls the process.

“The ministry would bypass the Board most of the time and only come to us when they are faced with a problem. That’s what happened with the Paramount Holdings deal, the ministry bypassed us and only came to us when there were in problems, “she said.

She has however, told the Joint Committee that, she was among the team that went to assess the UK supplier and they found that the supplier had no capacity to supply the fertilizer.