ACB says Joyce Banda not cleared of Cashgate: Malawi ex-president still under corruption investigations
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says it has not cleared former president Joyce Banda on corruption allegations in the biggest financial scandal in the country’s history called Cashgate, dismissing her claims that the graft-busting body said it had no solid evidence against the former president, partially clearing her name.
The “Cashgate” scandal prompted foreign donors – who provide around 40 percent of Malawi’s budget – to pull the plug on aid worth around $150 million.
The scandal helped push Banda out of power in the 2014 election, and President Peter Mutharika vowed to clean up the system to bring donors back.
ACB director Reyneck Matemba wondered where Banda is getting the information of her being cleared from.
“We never said we have cleared the former president (Joyce Banda),” said Matemba.
The ACB only cleared five firms of wrongdoing in the now K236 billion Cashgate suspected to have occurred between 2009 and 2014.
Matemba said the ACB is still investigating Banda following claims by Cashgate convict Oswald Lutepo on her role in Cashgate and on payments worth $4.5 million (about K3.5 billion) Mudzi Transformation Trust received from oil exploring companies on the same day that the Malawi Government issued licenses in 2013.
Mudzi Transformation Trust was a five-year project launched in 2013 to build houses for vulnerable people. It targeted 20 000 villages nationwide, but just over 500 houses were built at the end of former president Joyce Banda’s term in 2014.
Lutepo confessed that while he had indeed swindled the state, he’d also personally delivered cash to Banda during her term as president.
He said Banda was the mastermind behind the fraud.
“They [the alleged masterminds] used my account as a conduit. I have been to State House several times to deliver the money. If there are CCTVs (closed camera circuits), they will prove me,” said Lutepo.
The former president said she had evidence that corruption allegations against her were politically motivated with written confessions by suspects in the Cashgate scandal, which state that agents have been pressurising them to implicate her in the scandal.
Banda , 68, flew home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile during which she faced the threat of arrest over corruption allegations.
Police spokesman James Kaledzera last week declined to say if Banda would be arrested, though he confirmed that a warrant issued last July remained valid.
But the second woman to lead an African country and the first woman president in Malawi, Banda assured her party faithful that she played no role in Cashgate during her two-year tenure as Presilent from 2012 to 2014. “I am not afraid,” she said defiantly. “If they want they can come and arrest me because I have not done any wrong.”
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UDF, DPP and PP are parties of thieves. There is no question about this. How come COs with a salary of K60,000 a month own cars and houses. If you want to see what Malawians have lost in taxes just go to areas 43, 44, 12, 11, 49 and 25 and see what people are building from meagre salaries. It is all theft. It is more of thefe than corruption in Malawi.
Hatton the purpose is to assess whether you can borrow further ,you are not a Risk.So it has been determined that we can continue borrowing. Celebrate my friend. My worry is that when Money is squandered no one is held accountable. Take the 577billion kuli ziii.Bola Amayi anamangapo anthu 30billion IJA.
Bwana nalingula, please note that Extended Credit Facility(ECF) is not the same as DEBT RELIEF. ECF is more less like an endorsement that the country’s credit rating has improved on account of sound microeconomic environment. What you referred to as kukhululukidwa ngongole, I believe that is debt relief.
I now understand why government is always being criticized. Largely it is because the majority of the critics do not understand the subject matter.
Would claimants of “good technical knowhows” of improved microeconomic environments explain to the ignorants what that translates into real life situation of a common man. People do not eat figures or false hopes/ explanations.
Goodall has been making such claims over the past 15 yrs but with NOTHING to SHOW for! If anything if one is to check the same IMF/ World Bank poverty indicators, we are at the bottom of list even in this SADC sub-region.
Unfortunately DPP thieves ALL they are good at is self-grandiosity and bragging.. We are “top notch”, US trained, blah! blah! But results on the ground is all MISERY!!!.
SHAME on thieves!!!
AHatton ECF sindiye kuti tatonkhululukidwa NGOngole.Ndie kuti tithakumangongolabe.Paja ngongole yathu yatofika 1.2trillion.Funso kodi makobiliwa tikangongola akunka kwayi.Poti mayiko anali mbuyo mwathu atotipitirira,Rwanda,Mozambique, Tanzania?
Angasangalale ndi omwe amasolola makobiliwo tikangongola.
Is Matemba really fit to be ACB Director? JB has been outside the country for close to 4 years and you want to tell the nation that you are still investigating her? Someone who was born 4 years ago is at nursery school and able to say a few words in English and yet your investigation are still continuing. If the country is not careful it will end up paying JB billions of kwachas in compensations because of these useless ACB and police investigators. When is the police going to effect the warrant which was obtained last year? Mr Kadadzera don’t force Malawians to pay compensations using tax payers moneys because of useless police investigations. Our police cant arrest JB at her house but are planning to arrest her on make shift police check point when travelling on the roads of Malawi…mark my words. Police and ACB get orders from Dausi, Benson Phiri and other influential people in DPP based on my findings. Learned lawyer getting orders form JCE holder from Thyolo Secondary School? Really? Shame on Matemba
Kodi paja Gadafi anatisiya????
A matemba mupwetekeka ndi u young democrat wanuwu…………………….. izi mwanena izi mwanena ………………. wanso nde ayitu……………………….. kenako timvanso kuti the 7 ministers who are alleged to have a hand in K256 billion were not cleared………………………………..
JB kuthatu uku. These guys will finish you. Remember you were also implicated by kasambara and wanted you to wittiness. We told you not to come. If you want peace just join pp.or Afford. JB ex people expect development a disease of non stopping minsturation . If I were you I should have just kept quiet. What is you husband thinking,? he.will die quickly that innocent man. Abale komanso makwatila kwatiwa athuwa Achinwene che Richard Banda. JB nkhope ngati Mike Tyson
may God forgive you Sir
where is that good report about IMF approving ECF for Malawi. Kuterokotu enanu zikukunyansani. Simunati, chaka chino Mumva mbebe.
Comparison of performance as at May 2014 against May 2018:
Inflation was at 28% in 2014 and it is 8% in 2018.
Ex Rate MK:USD was MK 850 in 2014 and is K735.
Decent houses for the poor were at 0 in 2014 and is at 7,000 in 2018.
Hunger related deaths were at 200 in 2014 and now in 2018 are at 0.
IMF ECF was at 0 in 2014 and it is at K102 billion in 2018.
No sane person can replace the coach or the team with such an impeccable performance.
2019 APM AND DPP BOMA AGAIN
If a warrant of arrest was issued why are the investigations still going on? I thought a warrant of arrest can only be issued once the investigation has concluded! I thought the police and ACB are in sync.
Akuti its political. ACB has been politicising fraud cases since it was enacted. Its really a waste
If she is still under investigation as President during ‘cashgate’, what of the previous president and ministers?
Cashgate didn’t start with Joyce Banda or even Bingu, it has been ongoing since multi-party and probably before that.
This sort of playing politics with the ACB doesn’t help. Let them be politically neutral and investigate everyone responsible.
Absolutely. In fact start locking up all the living presidents (Muluzi, Bingu, Joyce and Peter). They all presided over very corrupt governments. As Accountable Officers/Presidents they need to face the music for compromising their fiduciary duties and that’s a serious crime. PSs should also face similar fate. They may not have benefitted directly (which I very much doubt as I believe they were all looking the other way), but they were accountable; they had a duty to protect our hard earned cash.
So who cleared APM on corruption allegations ? Food for thought!
Politicians must think of Malawians as very stupid and uneducated and therefore allowing them to reign without fear of any repercussions. How else would an able-bodied body looter declare, on a public platform, that she isn’t a thief or that she has done nothing wrong. If she proclaims that she’s a woman who fears God, then she should apologise to the nation or at least take responsibility for sleeping on the job. Let Malawians move on and focus on these other looters. I also have to say that ACB is as useless as they come. How long does an investigation of this nature take. Any sane ans skilled person should take a week to unpack the Mudzi Trust transactions and to establish whether or not there were fraudulent activities. Until ACB is cleaned up and capable people employed, it will remain toothless and a waste of taxpayers money. They too should be investigated for being paid for doing nothing.
Bring your evidence. She has given us her side of her story give us yours.
FOREX was found in the boot of a car. What more evidence do you need. Billions of dollars disappeared. She may not have benefitted directly (as she claims) but surely it happened under her watch. She presided over one of the most corrupt government so she should be held accountable for at least sleeping on the job. I can assure you that if she is voted back in to govern, there will be another major cashgate. The point is that, if she is the president, then she should have appointed the right people with moral and ethical values. Her judgement isn’t that of a good leader.
Lutepo is convicted and there lies your evidence. Billions of dollars disappeared under her watch. She presided over a corrupt government so did Muluzi, Peter, Joyce and now Peter. They all have to go to jail for negligence and sleeping on the job.
Pepani bwalo lino. Wina wake akufanana ndi Gadafi!!! Kapena sindikuona bwino bwino????
Tisaiwale 577billion.Kodi zinatoyamba bwanji?Chifukwa chiyani ma Bank amatolola kuti anthu atape ma billion Ku ma Bank kugwiritsa ntchito ma Cheke aboma mabankiwo osafusa Ku Boma? Chifukwa cha Kalata yochokera Ku State House kuloleza anthu kutapa makobili mabank asanafuse kuboma.Kodi Malemu Bingu sanatowuzidwa kuti anthu akubar ndi Reserve Bank ?Anatopangapo chani?30 billion ya Amayi anthu ena ali Ku Ndende.577billion ndani anamangidwapo?
If you have concrete evidence just go to ACB
Osamangolubwalubwa za milandu ya fake
Where is the good news about IMF’s nod to excellent performance of Malawi’s economy?Kutereku ena zawanyansa. Simunati Mumva mbebe.
May 2014 May 2018
Inflation 28%. 8%
Ex rate MK: USD. 850. 735
Decent houses for poor. 0. 7,000
Hunger related deaths. 200. 0
IMF ECF. 0. K102 billion
No sane person would consider changing the coach or the team with such an impeccable performance.
2019 APM BOMA AGAIN!!!
My friend, those cooked-up figures are only true in state house, ministers’ houses and to a few connected dpp individuals. A tree that is green to catch every eye but bearing no fruits is as good as a dry one even worse because it represents false realities. How could a normal person celebrate a loan as if it is an achievement just because you will either be dead or out of office by time of repayment? Do you call decent houses like the one i saw your minister came out from yesterday? We don’t need figures- cooked-up or not but an economy that will take care of all of us.
Investigation for how long? Police said they did their investigations and they have a warrant for arrest,, Nankhumwa said he had submitted a CCTV footage to ACB showing JB receiving bags of money at Sanjika. You are not serious ACB and your credibility is always questionable.
Those close to her should advise her to calm down a bit so that she can observe the current state of affairs. She had been away too long. Skype could not have told her everything.
Amayi. Mukanakhala cheta kaye. Kungofika ndikuyamba kubwebweta.
Chonde khalani kaye pansi. Nkhani izi ndi zazikulu. Palibe a kufuna kuti mu khale pa mavuto ngati simunalakwe
Odi uko. Zayamba. Why kulubwalubwa before being cleared by the ACB or courts? I hope she will shrink and shut up now
Chatonda if you have the evidence which can put her in jail bring it forward to the corrupted bereau not (anti curruption bereau)so that they can arrest her coz am tired of this hullabaloo for how long now the bereau has been investigating the lady the Luterrrrpo is serving his time it should’ve been her as well but till now nothing is happening WHY???
Jet inankha kwani?
Her sin is that she presided over a corrupt government. If Lutepo was convicted it clearly means that means that funds went missing. Nkuyu zodya mwana zinapota mkulu