About unexplained wealth

The story of one James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State in Nigeria almost runs like a James Hadley Chase cliffhanger. Using his wit and political power, Ibori became one very rich politician that he almost rose to the vice-presidency after allegedly helping to finance the late Umaru Yar’Adua’s presidential campaign.

In 2012 Ibori was convicted of swindling over $165 million from the people of Nigeria through inflation of government contracts, accepting kickbacks and plain stealing from state coffers. A lot of this money was invested in property across the borders of Nigeria.

On his list of luxury ‘toys’ Ibori had a $20 million Bombardier Challenger, 604 jet, a £2.2 million house in north London, a £3.2 mansion in Sandton (South Africa), a fleet of armoured Range Rovers and a Mercedes-Benz and Maybach 62 which he used at his mansion in South Africa.

Is this familiar in Malawi? I think so. I am thinking of how many people have managed to get away with acquisition of property within and outside Malawi when sources of such property cannot be properly explained. I am thinking of politically exposed persons who take it upon themselves to siphon money from the public purse and start redistributing it in the form of gifts at political gatherings or fundraising events for religious organisations.

In recent times, Malawi has been oversupplied with many stories of men and women serving as civil servants who have become filthy-rich overnight. They have no traceable business to explain sources of their huge amounts of income. Yet they are able to acquire or develop property in the affluent neighborhoods of the country’s cities.

Often, we hear stories of low and high ranking public officers that own scores of pieces of land or plots and houses but these cannot be linked to their names because the title-deeds are carefully wrapped in pseudonyms and proxies. They send their children to the most expensive schools in Malawi and abroad. They have been to the most expensive holiday destinations, including frequent visits to dentists and plastic surgeons in India!

How do these suspicious people get through their illicit enterprises when the laws are clear about unexplained wealth and lifestyles that are not consistent with one’s earnings? Do we have, for instance, a well-integrated electronic land registry at the Ministry of Lands that can be easily accessed by agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Office of Director of Public Officers’ Declarations? In this time of biometric registries, is it not possible to include biometric data for land registry records or any other property registration as done at the Road Traffic Department? Do financial institutions have credible KYC records to know sources of income for their customers? Does government do enough to check the compliance of financial institutions on this obligation or are the financial institutions complicit in laundering proceeds from illicit or criminal transactions?

From the infamous cash-gate scandal and other corruption scandals that have happened thereafter, it is clear that Malawi is under a serious onslaught of criminal cartels involving powerful people that fit the image of the Nigerian James Ibori. These are people that enjoy immunity from the law because they can afford the bill for impunity using stolen money. Soon, if nothing decisive is done, they will be able to pay through anything including desensitising the whole society from seeing anything wrong with illicit wealth.

As a country, we need to be vigilant about seeking accountability, especially from people entrusted to run public affairs who accumulate suspicious wealth. We must scrutinise State institutions that are responsible for checking the integrity of public officers and the effectiveness of systems.

We must also demand from private sector players to desist the practice of capturing public office bearers with bribes. We must refrain from admiring or even applauding those that accumulate instant wealth by defrauding the government. We must resist the temptation of accepting gifts or alms from people whose sources of wealth cannot be explained.