Mphwiyo freed on K10m bail: Makande, Chioko also out –Malawi cashgate

The High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe has granted former budget director Paul Mphwiyo bail in a case which the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is accusing him of money laundering and theft charges amounting to K2.1 billion.

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 on Saturday.

Some of the bail conditions imposed on Mphwiyo include a K10 million bond in cash plus his Area 43  sprawling residence be under court administration. He had also 3 sureties of MK2,000,000 each

Mphwiyo is also expected to be reporting to ACB after two weeks every Wednesdays and should be reporting to  ACB whenever he is going out of Lilongwe.

He is expected to go for medical attention in accompany of an ACB officer.

His lawyer Shadreck Mhango said Mphwiyo still has three bullets in his body after the September 2013 shooting.

“He underwent several surgeries and has a schedule of which he had an appointment with his doctors on Sunday, the day after his arrest,” Mhango said.

Politician Hophmally Makande and lawyer Ishmael Chioko – formally charged with money laundering-  were granted bail on Thursday 48 hours after they were arrested by ACB.

Makande, who is accused of laundering K2.1 billion ($4.5m), surrendered himself to ACB after it was reported that the bureau was looking for him and that it had already searched his house in Blantyre. He is yet to take a plea on the case.

“Makande, sometime in April and September, aided and abated Paul Mphwiyo, Leonard Kalonga, Maxwell Namata and Michael Mphatso to launder K2.1 billion knowing that it was stolen money,” reads a charge sheet.

Chioko, a senior employee at Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera), his charge sheet states that: “In July and September, Chioko aided and abetted Thandizo Mphwiyo to launder K50 million through the Good Deeds Trust.”

Lilongwe senior resident magistrate Paul Chiotcha  ordered both suspects to hand in their travel documents, provide two sureties worth K1 million each, report to the ACB once a week and also surrender K1 million in cash.