Malawi cashgate shooting victim Mphwiyo under ACB probe

The main victim and casualty of Malawi’s ‘cashgate’ scandal the country’s former Budget Director PaulMphwiyo is under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to establish whether he was involved and benefitted from the plunder of billions of the public funds.

Mphwiyo survived a shooting incident right at his house  which  reportedly aimed as silencing the fight against high levels of fraud as some ‘cashgaters’wanted to get rid of him because he had become a whistle-blower.

ACB Deputy Director Reyneck Matemba confirmed that Mphwiyo, who is also the main witness in his attempted assassination case, is under the ACB radar.

“The investigations have been going on for some four months now and we are getting somewhere. We cannot divulge everything to avoid prejudicing investigations but we hope to finish soon,” said Matemba.

Mphwiyo is one of the civil servants who own up-market houses in Area 43, one of the plush areas in the capital Lilongwe which has since been christened ‘Cashgate Housing Estate’.

Some sources say the investigating agency is mainly probing on how the former budget director acquired his multi-million kwacha assets which include the posh house and a fleet of expensive vehicles.

Following his shooting in September 2013, some ACB officers were sent to South Africa where Mphwiyo was receiving medical attention to interrogate him.

It is not known whether Mphwiyo was interrogated as a cashgate suspect or witness.

During his appearance before Public Accounts Committee (Pac) of Parliament in December last year Mphwiyo described ‘cashgate’ as a ‘national financial tragedy’ and a serious case of cyber attack.

The gun-shot survivor is not new to ACB investigations as he was probed yet again in 2008.

ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala said Mphwiyo submitted information to the bureau to justify the property that had raised questions.

“Mr Mphwiyo did not declare his assets to the Anti-Corruption Bureau as the bureau is not mandated to receive such information. Rather, he was asked in 2008 to explain how he acquired some property.

“He did so following an investigation which the bureau was conducting on allegation that he had unexplained property,” said Ndala.

Ndala could not disclose the property Mphwiyo declared to the bureau.

In his shooting case several former government officials have been implicated and mentioned including former Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara who is answering charges of attempted murder on Mphwiyo.

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