Tourism’s Kalonga charged with money laundering

Embattled Ministry of Tourism chief tourism officer Leonard Kalonga has been charged with theft and money laundering for allegedly defrauding government of K84 million (about $210 000) through dubious means.

Kalonga was rearrested on Monday this week and he is already facing similar charges in the High Court.

He is at the centre of the purchase of six buses for the Ministry of Tourism which the ministry has disowned and police have since impounded them as investigations continue. The buses are valued at K520 million (about $1.3m).

Yesterday, the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court heard that in August this year, Kalonga allegedly siphoned K40 million and K44 million using separate vouchers through the Ministry of Tourism.

It is because of these payments that he has also been charged with two counts of money laundering.

Senior resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa committed the case to the High Court, but after hearing complaints from Kalonga’s lawyer, Joseph Kamkwasi that his client had been rearrested on charges whose facts were similar to another docket already before the courts.

Said Kamkwasi: “The accused has already been charged with four counts under the Corrupt Practices Act. The charges today came from the same facts although the State decided to rearrest him.”

In a related development, businessperson Esnat Ndovie appeared before court yesterday where she was formally charged with inducing a public officer, Kalonga, to perform duties said to be corrupt in nature.

Kalonga is alleged to have made three separate payments to Ndovie’s company, Fusion Limited, totalling K63 million when it had not provided any goods or services to the Ministry of Tourism.

Ndovie’s lawyer pleaded for bail on the grounds that she had been in custody since Thursday, she had companies in the country and was willing to surrender her travel documents to the court while trial was in progress.