Bingu wealth probe stalls

Investigations into how former president Bingu wa Mutharika amassed wealth estimated at K61 billion have not progressed beyond mere suspicions following unsuccessful attempts to enter into intra-jurisdictional alliances, investigation agencies have revealed.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), represented by director of investigations Dan Mponda, yesterday told the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament that the scope of the bureau’s investigations did not extend to foreign jurisdictions; hence, they sought assistance from the Department of Justice of the United States of America (USA) and the International Police (Interpol).

But two years after the ACB requested for assistance from the US agency, it has only received acknowledgement of receipt of the request. Mponda said the US agency has also asked for more information such as bank account details, and what exactly the ACB was asking for.

The ACB, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Auditor General submitted updates to the committee on progress made into the investigation of how Mutharika amassed K61 billion wealth in eight years.

It is estimated that Mutharika held accounts in local and international banks with funds amounting to K34.9 billion.

Real estates, according to ACB investigations and information sourced from estate valuers, was worth K37.2 billion.

During the briefing, Mponda confirmed that ACB opened investigations into Mutharika’s wealth in 2014 and progress was made locally in sourcing documentation.

He said: “The major challenge has been that the bulk of the estate is outside our jurisdiction such as the United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe. We have tried accessing information using intelligence but it has not been forthcoming.”

Mponda said in 2014, the ACB through the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought assistance from the Department of Justice of the US and Interpol in March, 2014, to help the ACB in tracing bank accounts.

It was only in May 2015 that the Department of Justice responded, but Interpol has not yet done so three years later.

“The response from the Department of Justice was not sufficient enough to work with as they requested for additional information. The additional information was what we were also looking for so this being a foreign jurisdiction it has not been an easy task,” Mponda said.

However, he assured the committee that they have not ruled out assistance from Interpol and Department of Justice but this would take long.

Mponda opened a can of worms when he disclosed that the document which Parliament referred to the ACB to authenticate was actually an extract of a document from their office to Interpol and Department of Justice.

However, he declined to submit the original document citing that investigations were underway and sensitive information could not be divulged publicly.

This irked the committee, resulting in the chairperson, Alekeni Menyani, reading Mponda the Riot Act after a brief recess. The law outlines the mandate of the committee and action that can be taken against officers deemed not to be cooperative. 

On its part the FIU, now an authority, said its mandate only extended to receiving disclosures from financial institutions for forwarding to law enforcement agencies but this is not necessarily evidence but intelligence.

On his part, Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa said the document referred to his office indicated that a probe would extend to banks located outside the country which required collaboration with international bodies.

The hearing continues this morning with questions from committee members.

Mutharika’s wealth was valued at K61 billion accumulated in the eight years he was president from 2004 to 2012.

In 2004, Mutharika declared to the Speaker of Parliament that his wealth was K150 million.