A former Malawian home affairs minister who illegally awarded passports and citizenship to foreigners when he served in Joyce Banda's administration between 2012-2014 was jailed for five years on Thursday.
Uladi Mussa, 55, was arrested by Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2017, for granting citizenship to Burundian nationals, alongside former regional immigration officer David Kwanjana.
The ex-minister was sentenced to five years for abuse of public office, and one year for neglect of duty and altering false documents.
"I order a sentence of five years imprisonment for being found guilty of abuse of public office and 12-month imprisonment for neglect of official duties," Justice Chifundo Kachale said before a courtroom full of supporters in the capital, Lilongwe.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Mussa is the vice president of former president Peter Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and has expressed an interest in running for the party's leadership ahead of the next elective conference.
He is also a former vice president of ex-president Banda's People's Party (PP).
The case has also earned the former cabinet minister under four successive regimes a travel ban to the United States since July 2019.
Two Burundi nationals, Pascal Rwasa and Rwandese Esili Kubwimana, who were accused of benefitting from the citizenship process were acquitted last week.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks