Cashgate dossier with names: Baker Tilly hand over to Malawi Auditor General

British Forensic Auditors Baker Tilly have finally handed over the much awaited full cashgate report to the Auditor General of Malawi,  Steven Kamphasa, senior government officials have confirmed to Nyasa Times .

Kamphasa received the report this week and he is expected to hand it over to Minister of Finance Goodal Gondwe after reviewing it.

National Audit Office, Corporate Communications Officer Thomas Chafunya confirmed that the Malawi AG is finalising formalities of hand the dossier to the Minister of Finance who will then table it in Parliament.

“Yes I can confirm . The AG will follow the provisions in the constitution to submit the  report  to Parliament through the minister of finance,” said Chafunya in a telephone interview with Nyasa Times from Lilongwe.

Asked if the report contains names, businesses and officers involved Chafunya simply said: ” It has everything.”

Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe  assured the National Assembly that government will release the names of suspects in what is known as Malawi’s Cashgate—a K13 billion public finance scandal that rocked the country last year.

Gondwe  said the Peter Mutharika administration will release details of the comprehensive audit report by the British auditing firm.

“The names that were concealed will be revealed,” assured the Finance Minister.

President Peter  Mutharika pledged to deal with Cashgate and bring all culprits to book.

Malawians trashed the first audit report, which omitted names of individuals and companies said to be involved in the massive corruption scandal.

The government of Malawi under Joyce Banda leadership  hired a British company, Baker Tilly International, to audit its departments between April and September 2013.

The company’s report found the government lost about K13 billion during that period through fraud, theft and unethical actions.

That equates to more than one percent of GDP, in a one of the world’s poorest countries, where state services are poor and life expectancy is just 54 years.

The report says nearly half of the money went to 16 private companies for services they did not provide.

It says this was done by taking advantage of a loophole in the government’s financial management system.

Some 68 civil servants and businesspeople are already on trial charged with graft.

Ex-justice minister Ralph Kasambara and four others face trial for the attempted murder of a former treasury official Paul Mphwiyo who was on the verge of exposing the corruption ring.

Foreign donors, who provide 40% of Malawi’s budget, froze vital aid worth around $150m in response.