Malawi Releases 'Cashgate' Audit Report

Malawi has made public an audit report that reveals the details and names of those involved in mismanagement and plunder of public resources that led to the loss of over $100 million last year.



The scandal, famously known as Cashgate, led donors to suspend about $150m in budget support and aid to the Southern African nation. Malawi's International Monetary Fund program also went off track because of the scandal.



Malawi's Minister of Justice Sam Tembenu told reporters the 124-page Cashgate audit report conducted by British auditing firm Baker Tilly was ready for release on September 25, but the government has been consulting with law enforcement agencies that gave the go-ahead to make it public.



The report  contains a list of 49 individuals who between them had a hand in infiltrating the Integrated Financial Payment System (IFMIS).



"It's a matter of public interest, that is why tge government has made a decision to release the report to end public speculation on what is contained in the report," Tembenu told the press in the capital Lilongwe.



Tembenu said the report is not necessarily about names but what happened leading up to the looting of public funds that resulted in the loss of over $100 million.



Contrary to popular expectation, names of suspects who allegedly stole from the public funds did not include senior politicians, including Vice President Khumbo Kachali and former president Joyce Banda whose names were linked to the scandal.



But Tembenu indicated that investigations into the matter are still ongoing.



He went on to say that the long-awaited report was meant for Malawian law enforcing agency, who has already started doing their work in making arrests of those involved in the embezzlement scandal.



Among the notable names that have appeared in the report were former Malawi commander Henry Odillo and his deputy Clement Kafuwa.



Both have been implicated as signatories to several checks paid to International Procurement Services (IPS) owned by Oswald Lutepo — who is answering Cashgate-related charges in court.



Odillo - who was recently sacked - was one of three signatories, who signed for three checks going to IPS. Kafuwa was also sacked when President Peter Mutharika assumed power in May.



The auditors have, however, identified nine other people who are linked to companies involved in Cashgate, including son of former president Banda, Roy Kachale.



The report also names three law firms which benefited from "Cashgate funds" including the firm of former justice minister Ralph Kasambara.



The former minister is already answering charges related to Cashgate, which involve an  attempted murder against former treasury official Paul Mphwiyo.



Tembenu, who was flanked by Minister of Information Kondwani Nankhumwa and Deputy Auditor General Langton Gomani, stressed that the report was not an indictment of anybody but rather the outcome of investigations into how government lost billions of Malawi kwacha.



On orders from President Mutharika, over the past two weeks, Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been making fresh arrests of people that were allegedly involved in Cashgate affair.



Those arrested included Mphwiyo and his wife Thandi, former deputy inspector general Nelson Bophani, former spokesperson of Banda's People's Party (PP) Hophmally Makande and newly-appointed Assets Director Christopher Tukula.



By Moses Michael-Phiri



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Lilongwe