Cashgate foul-ups

Prosecuting agencies and courts have been sitting on over 70 Cashgate cases for 10 years following revelations of abuse of public resources at Capital Hill in September 2013.

This is according to findings of a comprehensive review of all Cashgate cases that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted in April this year.

In a response to a questionnaire, ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala said there are also 29 dockets from 2011 Cashgate files of whom some cases were proposed for discontinuation.

Ndala, who only shared the findings of the report, indicated that some of the 29 cases were prosecuted or discharged while those viable are still being worked on.

She said from the 2013 Cashgate cases, there were 79 dockets of which 59 are with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and 20 are with the bureau.

When asked on the status of the 59 dockets with his office, DPP Masauko Chamkakala asked for more time before commenting.

But said Ndala: “Three of the 20 under the ACB have been successfully prosecuted while the rest are at various stages of prosecution. One thing the review revealed is that there was previously not much emphasis on asset recovery and the bureau is now looking at the viability of asset recovery on all the dockets that it is working on.”

She, however, asked for more time to check on how much the graft-busting body is expecting to recover from the asset recovery drive and how much has been recovered so far.

Ndala was also yet to give more information on the specific cases proposed for discontinuance as well as some of the high profile cases the bureau is still prosecuting and those involving huge amounts of money.

But records at the Magistrate Court in Lilongwe show that there are at least 14 Cashgate-related cases that have been in limbo since 2013 as the bureau is yet to start prosecuting them.

In July 2019, the then principal resident magistrate Violet Chipao (now Judge) ordered ACB to explain why the suspects in the 14 Cashgate-related cases should not be discharged under Section 247(1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code.

In an interview this week, Supreme Court of Appeal and High Court of Malawi registrar Kondwani Banda asked for more time to check on the status of the cases.

Former ACB director general Reyneck Matemba said at the time that the bureau delayed to prosecute the cases due to “one aspect of investigation” which was yet to be concluded.

The suspects in the 14 cases include former deputy Inspector General of Police Nelson Bophani, politician Hophmally Makande, Ishmael Chioko and Thandizo Mphwiyo, wife to former budget director Paul Mphwiyo whose case is in court. Mphwiyo and 14 others are accused of defrauding K2.4 billion of public funds in 2013.

Others are Patricia Chatuwa, Maria Chagoma, Charles Chalira, Joyce Chimwemwe Mkandawire, Zainabu Swaleyi, Geoffrey Chimimba, Daniel Magalasi and Gladys M’mangisa.

Weekend Nation also understands that a number of Cashgate suspects have entered plea bargaining arrangements with the State to have their cases discontinued.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Pirirani Masanjala in an earlier interview confirmed that the office of the DPP was sorting out some Cashgate cases through settlement.

Those so far freed after paying back the money are Kettle Kamwangala, Fatch Chungano, Cecilia Ng’ambi, Sympathy Chisale and Ndaona Satema, according to official documents sourced from the Ministry of Justice.

Kamwangala was freed in May last year after paying back K16.7 million allegedly defrauded from government and she was answering two charges of theft, contrary to Section 278 of the Penal Code and money laundering contrary to Section 35 of the Money Laundering Proceeds of Serious Crime and Terrorist Financing Act.

The other four, Chungano, Ng’ambi, Chisale and Satema were discharged from the K2.4 billion case involving Mphwiyo and others in August last year after also paying back with interest a combined amount of K120 million, according to the documents.

By November 2015, it was reported that there were 124 Cashgate cases before the ACB, the then special Cashgate prosecutor Kamudoni Nyasulu who was hired by the ACB, and the DPP.

By November 2020, some 94 suspects had entered trial; 40 people were convicted and trials for 19 suspects were close to finalisation, representing a near completion rate of 64 percent.

However, the ACB review found that 70 cases were still waiting for trial, probably suggesting that by 2015 there were more than 124 Cashgate cases before the prosecuting agencies.

Out of the 40 convictions, ACB and Nyasulu secured 22 convictions and DPP secured 18 convictions.

The suspects investigated and convicted included 36 public officers from 10 government ministries, departments and agencies as well as 122 private sector companies, including three legal firms.

The State recovered K63 million from the first Cashgate convict Triza Senzani (now deceased) and a vehicle from another convict Victor Sithole. The State also recovered a vehicle valued at K7 million from suspects Luke Kasamba and K18 million from Maxwell Namata (now late).

The State also applied for confiscation of K112 400 000, $31 850, 122 200 South African rands, a Toyota Vitz, K750 000, K1 400 000 plus a house on plot number 25/LC/87 and Whispers Bar at Area 25 belonging to Sithole.

Other recent high-profile cases ACB and the DPP are pursuing include the former president Peter Mutharika’s taxpayer identification number (TPIN) case, the Batatawala case and the case involving UK-based businessman Zuneth Sattar.

In an earlier interview ACB said that it concluded investigations into how Mutharika’s TPIN was deceitfully used by other individuals.

The TPIN was used to import K5 billion worth of 800 000 bags of cement from Zambia and Zimbabwe, a development that also led to the arrest of Mutharika’s personal bodyguard Norman Chisale and State Residences chief of staff Peter Mukhito.

In the Batatawala case, the accused are answering charges of conspiracy to defraud government by allegedly inflating the market price of lockers that the Department of Immigration procured from his firm.

In an earlier interview Ndala said the bureau is ready to prosecute all the Sattar-related cases and is only waiting for courts to set dates for hearing.

Records also show that between August 10 2021 and April 26 2022, the DPP consented to 31 corruption-related cases for prosecution by the ACB.