Malawi Police re-arrest Mphwiyo over cashgate scandal

Former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo has been arrested by fiscal police in Lilongwe in connection to his alleged involvement in the cashgate scandal.

Mphwiyo: Gun shot survivor in Malawi 'cashgate' is now called main architech
Mphwiyo: Gun shot survivor in Malawi ‘cashgate’ is now called main architech

He is accused of siphoning over K3 billion of public funds from Capitol Hill in Lilongwe.

Mphwiyo’s arrest comes three months after he was fingered out as the mastermind of the theft and money laundering of public funds amounting to K20 billion.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale in August told High Court in Lilongwe that Mphwiyo was the main architect of the scandal that forced the country’s main donors to pull out.

And cashgate convict, Leonard Kalonga, former assistant director of tourism at Ministry of Tourism also named Mphwiyo as the brain behind the looting of public funds at the Capital Hill.

In his affidavit, Kalonga told the High Court in Lilongwe in August that Mphwiyo was in-charge of cashgate operations, saying he “stressed that there were a lot of players involved in the system.”

“He (Mphwiyo) assured us that he was going to make everything available and he gave details on how he was going to do so, so as not to attract suspicion when it comes to single payments involving
millions ,” reads in part Kalonga’s affidavit.

He added: “He [Mphwiyo] told us to select suppliers who were in the construction industry, to avoid raising suspicions when they were drawing large sums of money”.

Kalonga said per instructions from Mphwiyo he recruited Angella Katengeza’s company, Faith Construction, among others, to share the proceeds of fraud.

Mphwiyo is a victim of the shooting outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe in 2013 when he was budget director in the Ministry of Finance.

Former justice minister Ralph Kasambara, Pika Manondo and McDonald Kumwembe are defending themselves on the attempted assassination of Mphwiyo.

Kachale once told the High Court in Lilongwe that Mphwiyo was key player in the looting Mafioso.
She said ‘Cashgate’ 2013 remains a blemish upon the reputation of Malawi.

“ It was a sinister conspiracy by criminals who betrayed her people in defrauding them of approximately MWK 20 billion. It was a highly organised, in part highly technical and certainly a highly placed raid on the Reserve Bank of Malawi,” Kachale said.

Mphwiyo became the youngest budget director when he was appointed by the Joyce Banda administration but an attempt on his life saw several people who were implicated in his shooting being arrested.

The gun-shot survivor was also arrested in 2014 on charges of money laundering, theft and conspiracy to defeat the course of justice while his wife was charged with money laundering and theft.

 

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Ziggy wa manoma
Ziggy wa manoma
8 years ago

Mbava yaikulu,ikazione

Ntchachi
Ntchachi
8 years ago

Padziko lapansi lino palibe chobisika. Nthawi yikadzakwana chili chonse chizaululika ndithu.
Musamati mwabisala ayi nthawi yanu yikubwera muzayankha anu mafunso.
May God help Malawi.

Yosefe Gambatula
Yosefe Gambatula
8 years ago

For Malawi to develop ,its time it stopped grolifying thieves like Mphwiyo and others just because they can make them drinking.Malawians like worshipping thieves who makes them drunk.Mphwiyo is not hero but just a mere thief who wasted our hard earned taxes to make a name on prostitutes in LL and some drunkards in LL.Its time he nursed his swelling face at Maula because of greediness in his mafioso world where he was applauded by the woman thief Joyce Banda.The govt should clean Malawi all of these cashgate thieves.We don’t want to see them in the street again.Let them rot… Read more »

tan'gatan'ga
tan'gatan'ga
8 years ago

BEAM yaba ndalama zaboma through MBC posachedwapa – 50 bags of cement. MBC survives on Tax payers money, how can it be making donations? Show me where else MBC has made donations? Achoka ku NAC tsopano ali kuMBC, where next?

tan'gatan'ga
tan'gatan'ga
8 years ago

Mota Engil must also be investigated. They get contracts and concessions in very dubious circumstances, for example, the Lake Ports concession and the Njakwa to Livingstonia road construction contract.

tan'gatan'ga
tan'gatan'ga
8 years ago

Cashgate inayamba 1994, anayamba kuba a UDF, kubwela DPP, PP then now DPP again. NNo wonder DPP is dwelling only to the period when PP was in power. THEY ARE ALL THIEVES.

Prodigalson
8 years ago

Asamasulidwetu milandu isanaoneke mituyake

Fathi Shehaab
8 years ago

the guy is a mafiso…he luks so even in church.. so ndiye Ama zakhursa poti adalakwa kuchinjiliz nephew wawoyo koma akadatani mzimayi..cmandzi ali nkhosi ya campaign….ssshhh!

Taelo
Taelo
8 years ago

kaya zanu izo kuba osakhala ndi chisoni chomwetu. wazionatu wekha iwe.

Gas Machine Head
Gas Machine Head
8 years ago

Mpwiyo. My Chanco friend. I remember those days when you were a UDF Young Democrat with the other guys like Chimbalanga, Kankhulungo and others. Then you were rewarded with the NIB jobs. Then in the Civil Service, then your Master’s. But all over a sudden you were a millionaire. Right in front of our own eyes. We also have ma Master’s, we are even working in well-paying financial institutions but most of us, your college-mates were always left with our mouths wide open when we saw you, as a Civil Servant, splashing out cash, driving luxurious German vehicles, ma X5,… Read more »

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