Malawi Parliament demand  update on 9 remaining files  on K236bn Cashgate

Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Alex Menyani has  asked the graft-busting body to update his committee with a an updated report on the progress of the probe of eight files in  the now K236 billion Cashgate suspected to have occurred between 2009 and 2014.

Initially,   Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)  was investigating 13 files but five names  (four companies) were cleared of wrongdoing.

Menyani said ACB informed the committee that ethere is no evidence that suggests that there was corruption in the way the cleared  companies dealt with the government.

But he said the committee want to know the progress of the firms still under probe.

Menyani said he also wanted an update from ACB if Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa had handed over 37 files which  he had engaged a forensic audit firm to work on them alongside his auditors.

“We agreed  on update and ACB should give a report on the remaining files being investigated,” said Menyani.

Meanwhile, names of the remaining companies being investigated remain being shielded.

The Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale has maintained his July 2016 legal opinion to the ACB and Auditor General in which he asked the institutions not to disclose names of the companies and individuals mentioned in the forensic audit as the investigations were yet to verify if there was any wrongdoing on the part of the mentioned companies.

Kaphale told ACB and the Auditor General that such disclosures could be costly to the government as they could sue for loss of business if they are deemed as corrupt in the public eyes.

Malawi Law Society supported the Attorney General’s decision to shield the names of the companies named in the forensic audit, arguing that there could be legal ramifications in disclosing the names before investigations are concluded.