There is more dirt coming out from the Capital Hill cash-gate scandal with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) yesterday arresting yet another businessperson who got paid over K1 billion (about $2.5m) by Malawi Government without a contract.
In a statement issued on Monday, ACB said the businessperson, Stafford Mpoola, had no contract with government but was paid a sum of K1 113 397 413.31.
The bureau, in the statement signed by its spokesperson Egrita Ndala, said the suspect may be charged with procuring corrupt use of official powers contrary to Section 25 (2) of the Corrupt Practices Act and obtaining money by false pretence contrary to Section 319 of the Penal Code.
Reads the ACB statement in part: “On 12th September 2013, the Anti-Corruption Bureau received a complaint alleging that government officers at Capital Hill were making entries in the Integrated Financial Management Information System [Ifmis].
“The Anti-Corruption Bureau immediately instituted investigations. The investigations found that Mr. Stafford Mpoola, a businessman trading as Stadal Building Construction and signatory to Dan Civil Engineering and Building Contractors, received various sums of money amounting to K1 113 397 413.31. The bureau established that there was no contract between government and Stadal Building Construction or Dan Civil Engineering and Building Contractors.”
Last week, ACB also arrested an assistant accountant in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Frank Mwanza, for allegedly making payments worth over K1 billion to International Procurement Services (IPS) which belongs to Oswald Lutepo, a member of the national executive committee of the ruling People’s Party (PP).
Lutepo is PP deputy director of recruitment and sensitisation.
Responding to a specific question from journalists on arrival from the United States of America (USA) on what she was going to do if an official of her PP was involved in the Capital Hill cash-gate scandal and claimed to have been assisting the party, President Joyce Banda said such smear tactics would not work because “a thief is the one who has stolen and [been] caught, and not the receiver.”
