Mphwiyo, wife arrested: Malawi cashgate

Malawi former budget director Paul Mphwiyo and his wife Thandie were on Saturday arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and we’re charged with money laundering and theft offences.

ACB deputy director Renwick Matemba said Mphwiyo is also suspected of conspiracy to defeat the course of justice.

Matemba  said more arrests are looming involving the cashgate scandal.

The arrest comes barely hours after ACB also arrested the newly appointed Director of the Public Officers’ Assets Declaration- lawyer Christopher Tukula.

Mphwiyo has been under ACB investigations over his alleged role in the infamous cash-gate scam.

ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala say the bureau will make “appropriate communication” on the arrest  later.

The revelations of cashgate  began in September 2013  when Mphwiyo, the person former president Joyce Banda  had tasked to close the loopholes in the public purse, was shot three times in the head in Lilongwe. Miraculously, he survived the attack and is amongst state witness in his shooting case.

Ralph Kasambara, former minister of Justice, has been accused of orchestrating the assassination attempt of Mphwiyo and if facing charges related to that. He is also facing separate money laundering  charges together with chief suspect Oswald Lutepo.

Some 60 cashgate cases are in the courts, and this week the justice minister Samuel Tembenu indicated in parliament that more people involved in the plunder will be arrested.

ACB says roughly K20 billion went missing Banda’s two year rule. They add that probably another K90 billion went missing over the eight years of the presidency of the late Bingu wa Mutharika, equal to roughly $500m at the exchange rate of the time.

In total about 30 per cent of the country’s budget could have been looted over a decade – almost as much as donors have provided Malawi over the same period.