By Pemphero Malimba:
The High Court sitting in Lilongwe has set aside a restriction notice which the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) issued to Limbe Leaf Tobacco, restricting the company from dealing with tobacco belonging to East Bridge.
High Court Judge Redson Kapindu made the ruling in chambers yesterday.
The ruling means East Bridge has freedom to access tobacco kept in Limbe Leaf Tobacco warehouses.
Access to that tobacco was restricted through a fresh notice.
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The restriction notice was issued on May 19, 2026 following the expiry of an initial restriction notice that was issued in February this year.
In the case, East Bridge lawyer Chimwemwe Kalua argued that the ACB abused its power when it issued a fresh restriction notice without seeking its renewal from court.
“We had a similar restriction notice in February, [a notice] which had not been renewed. Instead of renewing that notice, the ACB issued a fresh restriction notice.
“As such, we had an issue with the fresh restriction notice because, in our view, having allowed the previous notice to expire, the ACB had only one way out. The ACB had to come back to court and ask the court for an order of the court to renew the restriction instead of issuing a fresh restriction notice. So, we are challenging that restriction notice,” Kalua said earlier in the day.
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According to Kalua, Kapindu agreed with his application, indicating that the ACB director general abused his power when issuing the fresh restriction notice.
“The court has agreed with us that what the director did was an improper exercise of power. He abused his position and [the court has also said] that the process was irregular and illegal. The court has set aside that restriction notice with costs to our client,” Kalua said.
He said the company was now free to deal with the tobacco that was affected by the particular restriction notice
“On the strict interpretation of the ruling of the court, what that means is that the tobacco that was affected by the expired restriction notice is no longer restricted. East Bridge can arrange to remove that tobacco from the warehouse of Limbe Leaf to wherever they want the tobacco to. That tobacco remains from today onwards is unrestricted and East bridge can access the tobacco,” he said.
ACB lawyers refused to grant us interviews at the court.
The ACB served the company with several restriction notices as part of criminal investigation processes.
The investigation was initiated based on a complaint by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In several restriction notices issued in January this year, the company was restricted from shipping or dealing with its property without the ACB chief’s consent.
The properties include all processes and unprocessed tobacco belonging to East Bridge Tobacco Buying Limited, East Bridge Commodities and Logistics and East Bridge Estate SRL.
The properties also included all processed and unprocessed tobacco warehoused at Njewa in Lilongwe, Auction Holdings Limited at Kanengo in Lilongwe and Luwinga in Mzuzu, according to the restrictive notice dated January 26, 2026.
“Non compliance with this notice will amount to an offence under Section 23(4) of the Corrupt Practices Act,” reads the restrictive notice signed by ACB acting chief Gabriel Chembezi.
Three years ago, the Government of Malawi contracted East Bridge to supply at least 600, 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser in exchange for agricultural produce such as tobacco and soya beans.
Recently, Chembezi told the local media that preliminary findings indicated that the restricted tobacco was purchased using about K45.5 billion of public funds.
