5 arrested for alleged fraud at Macra
Fiscal and Fraud Section of Malawi Police Service on Wednesday arrested five people for alleged fraud and abuse of office at Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).
Three are former employees, namely former director of finance Ben Chitsonga, 48, former director of broadcasting Fegus Lipenga, 52 and former procurement manager Grace Solomoni Kaphale, 41.
They are accused of soliciting about K277 million from Thengo Investment in relation to the del ivery and installation of television and radio content studio equipment for Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas) in Blantyre.
Police have also arrested Macra acting director of finance Elvin Mwapasa, 45, and procurement officer Edson Makobili, 49, for similar charges.
The five were granted bail after they were charged and appeared before the Blantyre Principal Resident Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, National Police deputy spokesperson Harry Namwaza confirmed.
“The arrests were made by Fiscal Police. They are all on court bail pending hearing of their matter,” he said.
Court documents we have seen show that the offences were allegedly committed between September 2021 and January 2022.
The first count is unlawful conduct by public officials in procuring public assets contrary to section 57(1)(b) while the second count is abuse of office where particulars point to the allegation that the five solicited K277 263 238.22 from Thengo Investment.
S p e a k i n g d u r i n g t h e handover of the equipment to Mubas on December 29 2022, Macra director general Daud Suleman expressed reservations with the quantity.
He said had everything gone according to the arrangement, they could have donated more equipment to the college.
However, Suleman was quick to point out that the issue was being handled internally.
“The matter is with fiscal police now. We escalated it following advice from the Attorney General,” he said.
Macra was established pursuant to Section 3 of the Communications Act, 1998 of the Laws of Malawi to regulate the country’s communications sector.
