Ministry of Justice has warned against unscrupulous individuals who are collecting money from the accused persons under the pretext that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will drop the prosecution of their cases.

The warning has been issued through a press statement which the ministry issued on Monday, May 17, and signed by its Public Relations Officer Pilirani Masanjala.

According to the statement, the Ministry of Justice has deemed such acts as illegal and criminal in nature.

Reads part of statement: “The ministry of justice is informing the public that such individuals are not under instructions of the office of DPP nor employed by the Ministry of Justice and the conduct of these unscrupulous individuals is a form of bribery and solicitation and is purely criminal.

“We must state that the code of conduct for Prosecutors in Malawi, prohibits and frowns at such conduct.”

In addition the statement highlighted that the office of DPP operates using taxpayers’ money and therefore obtaining money from accused persons does not make sense in the circumstances.

The statement has therefore advised the public to take note that at no point will the DPP, nor officers under his office ever contact an accused to obtain money in order to derail criminal proceedings.

It has further revealed that so far several incidents have already been reported to the appropriate authorities for action to be taken.