MCP members implicated in cashgate – Baker Tilly report

Some members of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have been implicated in plunder of government resources dubbed cashgate amounting to K24 billion between April and September, 2013.

The names are contained in the Baker Tilly forensic audit report which Malawi government released on Thursday.

The MCP members implicated include lawmaker Lingstone Belekanyama, Wyson Zinyemba Soko, Rhino Chiphiko and Kettie Kamwangala.

The reports says Kamwangala, who was already arrested and charged, through her Explorations  company received MK 16,750,000 and paid MK 30,000  cashgate funds to Belekanyama.

The Baker Tilly audit shows that Zinyemba Soko of Wymbaso General Suppliers received MK 40,953,287 from government without providing any goods, service or works in return.

“We have not seen the business registration document for Wymbaso General Suppliers but the business bank account was opened by Wyson Zinyemba Soko. Internet searches show a person by this name is the Deputy Director of Youth for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and a person with the same surname, Patricia Soko is an Internal Auditor at the Ministry of Finance,” reads the report.

Chiphiko is MCP MP for Lilongwe City South West and is fingered in Compu-Networks Limited which received MK 30,654,079 cashgate funds.

The report said investigations suggest the proceeds of cashgate may have been used to support electoral campaigns.

Baker Tilly internet searches were mostly on business-oriented social networking service Linkedin, Nyasa Times online news, Nation and Times Media whose links are cited and well referenced in the report.

Justice Minister Samuel Tembenu told reporters that the audit dossier “is not a court judgment” and should be treated as an investigative report.

The report states that in total 104 government of Malawi cheques, totalling K 6.9 billion were paid to 39 different companies when they had not supplied any services to government the majority of which were deleted from the system.

Malawi with financial assistance from the Germany government wants its National Audit Office to carry out a comprehensive audit report dating back to 2010.