Four arrested for defrauding Prime Insurance K1.7 million

Malawi police has commenced a fraud case against Lilongwe resident Nelson Mbeketeya and his three sons after renowned Mbeya Private Investigators discovered that the four defrauded Prime Insurance Company K1.7 million  through bogus insurance cover claims.

The development comes barely less than two months after Mbeya Private Investigators busted another syndicate that could have defrauded Prime Insurance Company millions of kwacha.

Both Central Region Police Public Relations Desk Officer Jessica Nthawi and Prime Insurance Chief Operations Officer Gabriel Kamanga confirmed this latest mischief in separate interviews.

Kamanga did not mince words in an interview with Nyasa Times.

“These fake claims are negatively affecting us insurance companies. We must stop this malpractice to maintain a clean industry which would be trusted by many clients of goodwill,” he said.

Mbeketeya’s sons names are Pius Nelson, Frank Nelson and Ganizani Nelson.

Nyasa Times understands that the four had been in custody at Lilongwe’s Area 3 Police Station

According to Nthawi, the four who pleaded not guilty to the fraud charge levelled against them, were granted bail by Lilongwe First Grade Magistrate Court on 18th June 2018 and will appear in the court for hearing on 5th July this year.

It all began on 14th November 2015 when an accident occurred involving a motor vehicle registration number DZ 2981 Toyota Minibus Hiace ownedby Mbeketeya.

Some passengers aboard the minibus were reportedly injured and later lodged claims of compensation with Prime Insurance Company, the insurer of the vehicle.

The list of claimants included “passengers” Pius Paul, Frank Paul andGanizani Galimoto.

“Initially, we believed Mbeketeya being our client who brought all the necessary paper work,” confessed Kamanga.

On 13th January, 2017 Frank Paul on behalf of Pius Paul ( a minor) received the sum of 800,000 kwacha, Frank paul himself received 600,000 and Ganizani Galimoto got 300,000.

But what prompted Prime Insurance Company to change tune about payments it had already made to Pius, Frank and Ganizani?

According to Kamanga, one of the three boys informed one woman who was in the minibus on that fateful day in 2015 that she too could go and claim her compensation.

The woman, realizing that the informer is a son of the owner of the car Nelson Mbeketeya, reported the matter to Prime Insurance

“However, we wanted to establish how genuine her allegation was. So, we sought services of Mbeya Private Investigators, our reliable and trusted investigator,” disclosed Kamanga.

A report written by Mbeya Private Investigators to Prime Insurance Company dated 28 May 2017, which Nyasa Times has seen, show that the investigator discovered that Pius Paul (Pius Nelson), Frank Paul (Frank Nelson) and Ganizani Galimoto (Ganizani Nelson) are children of Mr. Nelson Mbeketeya and therefore are not entitled to benefit, cannot
claim against their own father.

Their real names were changed just to defraud Prime Insurance Company Limited.

The report further reveals that Ganizani and Frank were not passengers at the time of the accident, they were together in a maize garden.

Only Pius was a passenger among the children of Mr. Nelson Mbetekeya.

The report also alleges that Mbeketeya connived with Police officer Sergent  Zulu from Kasiya Police Post and Dennis Paundi a medical officer from Kabudula Health Centre to author false police and medical reports for his “passengers” which is a criminal offense.

“I think Mbeketeya did this to earn money to repair his damaged car because under the terms and conditions of his insurance cover with us, we were only going to compensate the passengers as far as that accident was concerned,” explained Kamanga.

When Nyasa Times asked Nthawi to clarify on the fate of the implicated police officer and medical doctor, she did not respond.

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