Lawyer Mulemba arrested over Malawi cashgate probe

Law enforcing agencies on Monday arrested Yambani Mulemba, a lawyer by profession, who  is linked to the money laundering charge of the country’s former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo and his wife Thandi.

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officers said said they want to quiz Mulemba on allegations that he collected US70, 000 dollars from Mphwiyo’s house immediately after he was shot, among other issues.

ACB deputy director general Reyneck Matemba  confirmed the arrest.

“We arrested Mr Mulemba on charges bordering on facilitating money laundering in connection with one of the Cashgate suspects,” Matemba said.

During the recent court hearing, Mulemba also testified that he facilitated contact for gun-shot survivor Mphwiyo with Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) head of surgery Dr Carlos Valera, whom he performed a minor surgery before he referred him to South Africa for specialist treatment.

But lawyers Ralph Kasambara – also accused in the shooting of Mphwiyo – was more interested in an envelope which he claimed contained dollars that Mulemba fetched the day after the shooting.

But Mulemba said he gave the envelope a cursory glance to satisfy himself that it contained medication as Mphwiyo’s wife had asked him to do.

Kasambara said the envelope contained dollars which Mulemba was asked to collect from Mphwiyo’s vehicle, but Mulemba denied it.

Mphwiyo, whose shooting at the gate of his house in the country’s capital Lilongwe on the night of September 13 2013 exposed the plunder of public resources, was arrested  for money laundering, theft and conspiracy to defeat the course of justice.

His wife was charged with theft and money laundering.

Apart from the arrest of Mphwiyo and his wife Thandi, the anti-graft body also arrested politician Hophmally Makande and Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) director of legal services and company secretary Ishmael Chioko.

The 2014 forensic audit report into Cashgate also mentioned Knights and Knights, a legal firm where Mulemba is a partner, as one of the law firms which allegedly received money from people named in Cashgate.

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