Cashgate witness murdered, Malawi Police confirms
Malawi Police have confirmed that one of the key witnesses in theft of billions from State coffers has been murdered in Lilongwe and identified the deceased as Daina Kadyanji, an accounts officer in the Accountant General’s Department.
Lilongwe Police Public Relations Officer, Ramsy Mushani said group of unknown thugs on Monday evening attacked and killed Kadyanji as she was travelling to her home in Area 23 in Lilongwe.
Kadyanji, 45, from Zam’mimba Village (V/G), Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsamala, Balaka District was killed at her house before her assassins dumped her lifeless body within the capital.
“The woman was coming from church on her car between 7.00 to 9.00 o’clock in the evening and she tried to make her way into her house compound unknown criminals ganged at her and drove her. The body was damped at Kanyandula Village near Chiuzira Trading Centre in the early hours of Tuesday,” said Mushani.
Postmortem done at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) showed that the deceased died due to severe head injuries.
Mushani said the vehicle of the deceased Toyota Vox BS 386 was found abandoned at Chisala Village near Dickson Trading Centre in Lilongwe.
According to police, no arrests were made as of Tuesday afternoon but investigations were still on.
The late Kadyanji worked in the Ministry of Tourism before being transfered to the Ministry of Health and later the Accountant General’s Office until her fate.
Among other offices at the Account General’s Office, she worked in the Cheque Dispatch Office during the months the current administration initiated Cashgate is reported to have taken its toll.
As an officer in this office, she was identifying all people who came to collect cheques. However, recently she was moved to Pensions Section within the Accountant General’s Office.
As an officer who identified all people collecting cheques from the Account General’s Office, the late Kadyanji was a key witness in almost all the Cashgate cases currently underway in the courts.
Recently, she appeared in court testifying against Caroline Savala who is answering charges of money laundering and theft amounting to K87 million.
Before her gruesome murder, she was due to appear once more and testify in more Cashgate cases including those of Maxwell Namata and his wife Alice Namata.
Most critical of all cases was that for the Ministry of Tourism’s suspended Chief Tourism Officer Leonard Kalonga who is being accused of theft of public money.
Kalonga is facing eight charges of conniving with different people to defraud government of millions and he is at the centre of the procurement of six buses without the knowledge of the Ministry of Tourism where he was working as chief tourism officer.
Kadyanji was also a key witness over the K92 billion missing according to an audit between 2010 and 2012 under the DPP regime.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
