Cash-gate Exclusive: K1.5bn vanishes at local government ministry
Most of the companies suspected to have been conduits of alleged dubious payments at Ministry of Tourism are also believed to have been used at the Ministry of Local Government to siphon about K1.5 billion between April and September this year.
New details emerging show that within six months, K1.7 billion was disbursed and out of that amount, around K1.5 billion is suspected to have been stolen through dubious payments which authorities are currently investigating.
Our investigative project into Capital Hill cash-gate revealed that the money lost at the Ministry of Local Government is suspected to have been paid to about 29 companies, most of them already on the list of the suspicious K4.8 billion payouts at the Ministry of Tourism looted between April and September this year.
Out of the 29 companies from the Local Government Ministry list, three firms—Ziuya Constructions, Mzenga Construction and Mwendayekha Building Construction—were paid every month during the April-September period. (See page 3 for a detailed payment table).
Ziuya Constructions was paid about K340 million followed by Mwendayekha Building Contractors who got K321 million and Mzenga Construction who received about K303 million.
Sources close to the investigations say the companies are under probe because services and construction works done cannot be traced or found.
“We are still investigating what work they were contracted to do or what services were done,” said a source close to the investigation who asked for anonymity.
We also found out that the money being looted at both Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Tourism was not being stolen directly from the annual allocations.
Said a senior civil servant on Tuesday: “What happens is this: People with Ifmis rights get into the system, transfer the amount they want—say K1 billion—from Account Number One into the vote, say Tourism; then they facilitate the printing and signing of cheques through a syndicate.
“Once those cheques have been cashed from the bank, the transaction—transfer of money from Account Number One to the vote they want to steal from—is reversed and then deleted from Ifmis. So, you see, the allocation to the ministry remains intact. That is why so many billions can be paid from a vote whose budget allocation is billions of kwacha less,” said the source.
Three Army officers arrested
Meanwhile, three Malawi Defence Force (MDF) officers from Kamuzu Barracks in Lilongwe are in military police custody on suspicion of dubious transactions.
The arrests on Tuesday followed revelations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) that MDF was a target in the ongoing investigations into the looting of public resources.
However, MDF public affairs officer Taweni Kalua said the questioning of the three officers was not in connection with cash-gate.
Kalua confirmed the officers’ names as Stewart Kasambala, Charles Kamwana and Richard Kazado.
Kalua could not disclose the nature of the audit, but described it as a “routine auditing exercise.”
Below is a list of payments made at Local Government:
Note that between April and Mid September 2013 ( less than six months) K1 769 219 477.50 has been paid out with K1 037 731 100.63 paid between July and mid Sept 2013.
In April 2013 K231 239 620.43 was paid out. Suspicious transactions are:
Stadal Building Contractors
Ziuya Constructions
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
In May 2013 K299 704 292.82 was paid out. Suspicious transactions are:
Stadal Building Contractors
Ziuya Constructions
Blithe Construction
Dan Civl Engineering
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
In June 2013 K200 544 463.62 was paid out. Suspicious payments are:
Ziuya Constructions
Dan Civl Engineering
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
In July 2013 K249 600 000.00 was paid out. Suspicious payments are:
Ziuya Constructions
Stadal
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
In August 2013 K414 160 701.68 was paid out. Suspicious payments are:
J and J Construction
Ziuya Constructions
Mundikhumbengi Building Contractors
Stadal
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
Up to mid September K373 970 398.95 was paid out. Suspicious payments are:
Ziuya Constructions
Stewarts Construction
Mzenga Construction
Mwendayekha Building Contractors
QST projects
Mundikhumbengi Building Contractors
Koma Bingu! My foot, paja president ndi Joyce Banda, the self-confessed saint. I doubt parliament would have the guts to impeach her.