AG to probe privatised firms
The Attorney General ( AG ) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda says he will institute investigations into how s o m e S t a t e – owned enterprises were disposed of.
He said government wants to reclaim firms which were liquidated illegally as well as take civil or criminal action against public officers involved in the liquidation process.
The AG said he has reports that some State-owned firms were sold illegally and in some cases State property was sold for a song.
In an interview on Thursday, Chakaka Nyirenda said among the properties under his office’s investigation are the defunct Malawi Development Corporation (MDC) and Shire Bus Lines.
The AG said he will also probe how Shire Bus Lines infrastructure, spread across the country and was transferred to National Bus Company Limited, is being managed.
In 2006, government instructed Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC), then Privatisation Commission, to liquidate all MDC interests before liquidating its assets due to poor performance.
In 2007, government also liquidated Shire Bus Lines after inviting private sector players to partner it with then Malawi National Bus Company.
Besides the two entities, the AG office is considering extending its probe into the sale of the defunct Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) sold off to FDH Bank at K9.5 billion in July 2015.
He said the investigation seeks to establish the motive behind liquidation of the companies and help government map the way forward.
Chakaka Nyirenda said: “I know that there were liquidators that were appointed to manage them [privatisation process], but we have found evidence indicating that some of the assets were given to people for free, not by the liquidator, but outside the liquidator’s exercise of his powers.”
In the case of Shire Bus Lines infrastructure, especially bus depots, he said the AG’s office has reports that councils are failing to manage them as they are under a private operator.
Chakaka Nyirenda said Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu city councils and M’mbelwa District Council are failing to rehabilitate the bus depots because of the arrangement.
He claimed a local operator collects rentals from other bus operators such as at Wenela Bus Depot in Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe, Mzimba and Mzuzu bus depots, but is not investing back in the facilities.
“So these are the things we are saying we are working on in terms of asset tracing, but you have to wait for an action because the policy we have developed now is that we have to talk less and more action,” Chakaka Nyirenda said.
In a written response, PPPC chief executive officer Patrick Kabambe asked for more time to respond to the matter.
He said: “I need to relook at the Attorney General’s guidance before I can respond.”
But commenting on the AG’s move, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandila said if Chakaka Nyirenda
