Kaliwo speaks on duty-free imported car syndicate: Says allegations ‘politically motivated’

Gustav Kaliwo—opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general—has said there was nothing hazy in the manner the party’s vice president, who is also Speaker of the national assembly, Richard Msowoya acquired a Volkswagen Tourag that was cleared by the Malawi Revenue Authority duty-free.

In an interview with Nyasa Times, after we run the story, Kaliwo laughed off the allegations as “politically motivated.”

He insisted that there was “nothing wrong.”

According Kaliwo, the allegations are aimed at targeting him and his vice president, Msowoya.

“The truth of the matter is that the alleged vehicle belongs to Msowoya who bought it from him even before he had cleared it with  Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA),” said Kaliwo.

He added: “The truth of the matter is [that] I bought the said vehicle which a 2004 make at the price of K3 million hoping that it would be cleared at a price of K3 million. But when it arrived I was told that it clearance would cost me K7 million. And because I couldn’t manage to clear it I thought of just selling it at the same price to reclaim my money.

“I; therefore, offered it to my vice president [Msowoya] who showed interest to buy it from me and gave me K2 million through his personal assistant, Mr. Chitimbe, who deposited the money in my NBS Bank account on 31^st January, 2018.”

Kaliwo said after Msowoya agreed to pay him MK3 million he wrote an email to Be Forward telling them to change the ownership of the vehicle from him to Msowoya in an email dated 6th November, 2017

“We have made the necessary changes as requested. Please find amended profoma invoice in the attachment and double check to make sure the details are correct. Since your B/L (Bill of Lading) has been lodged in to TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority) so we cannot change at this stage but please check the invoice” read an email dated 7th November, 2017 from Zakiya Bobat of Be Forward in response to Kaliwo’s 6th November, 2017 email

Investigations by a Nyasa Times reporter at Malawi Revenue Authority corroborated Kaliwo’s sentiment that the car belongs to Msowoya as the blue book is registered under Msowoya’s name.

The vehicle was registered under his name on 7th December, 2017 and the vehicle’s registration number is KA 9469—standing for Karonga where Msowoya comes from.