Makande arrested in Malawi ‘cashgate’: Turns himself to ACB

Former ruling People’s Party (PP) spokesman Hophmally Makande has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Tuesday morning after he turned himself in.

According to ACB spokesman Egritta Ndala, Makande handed himself over to the bureau after he heard that the body was looking for him in Blantyre.

Nyasa Times had earlier reported that Makande, Brown Mpinganjira, a senior government official in the former Joyce Banda administration, would be next to face arrest

“He has been arrested on suspected charge of conspiring to defraud government contrary to section 35 of the corrupt practices Act. The charge is in relation to the ongoing investigation into Cashgate,” reads part of the statement signed by Ndala.

She said Makande will be taken to court after the bureau has recorded a caution statement .

Former Malawi Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo, whose shooting on 13 September 2013 led to the unravelling of the systematic looting of millions of government money dubbed ‘cashgate’,  is on record telling the court  in his attempted murder case that Mpinganjira warned him that former Justice Minister and Attorney Ralph Kasambara – who was arrested in connection with the shooting, and Makande, had given him “ten days to live” unless he honoured certain government payments.

Kasambara, who has been charged with conspiracy to murder Mphwiyo, denies the charges. He is on trial alongside four others, including a former soldier who is said, according to court papers, to have been one of the two hired ‘contract killers’.

Mphwiyo is also under arrest. His shooting unravelled ‘cashgate’ and the resultant discovery that up to US $30 million was minted from the government payment system, where politicians and businessmen colluded with civil servants for payments for goods and services not rendered to government.

Soon after Mphwiyo’s shooting millions of cash in Malawi kwacha, US dollars and South African rands started pitching up in unlikely places like in car trunks, baby dolls, under beds or in pillow cases.