Malawi gov’t denies property grab charges on Mutharika’s deceased estate
Malawi government has sharply denied accusations from former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika’s brother, Peter, of property grabbing in Bingu’s deceased estate.
Nyasa Times reported on Thursday that Peter Mutharika speaking at a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ceremony in Lilongwe where he welcomed about 22 people who claimed to have defected from the ruling People’s Party (PP), accused government of snatching his brother’s wealth.
However, government through its spokesman Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu said they cannot be accused of property grabbing when legally established institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), police and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) investigate any suspicions of wrongdoing.
“All matters of corruption or any indecent ways of amassing wealth, if they attract the eyes of ACB, Fiscal Police or FIU, they become an issue and should not be politicized,” said Kunkuyu who is Minister of Information.
“If they say this is property grabbing, to us it is not property grabbing because what is happening is not what property grabbing means,” he said.
Bingu’s wealth, estimated at over K61 billion, includes money in bank accounts, estates, property and a number of vehicles belonging to Bineth Trust, Bingu Silver-Grey Foundation and the yet-to-be-established University of South Malawi
Peter, who described himself as the Mutharika family’s patriarch following the death of his brother in April 2012, accused the Joyce Banda administration of wanting “to grab property of the deceased estate.”
He said: “They want to grab my late brother’s houses, money, estates, vehicles and many other assets. They know we are going into government because tiwanyenyanyenya [we are going to defeat them] in 2014.”
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