Police in Lilongwe are today set to take five officials under former president Arthur Peter Mutharika to court following their arrest yesterday in connection with alleged misappropriation of funds through Salima Sugar Company Limited (SSCL) and Greenbelt Authority (GBA).
The suspects are accused of defrauding government of $274.5 million (approximately K447.5 billion) during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reign.
The officials are ex-Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha, presidential adviser on economics Collins Magalasi, former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Lloyd Muhara, former Secretary to the Treasury Cliff Chiunda, and ex-GBA Company Secretary Jimmy Grey Kusamale.
National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said in an interview that the arrests stem from investigations into a 2023 audit report of SSCL, which uncovered the alleged misuse of government funds.
Kalaya added that the suspects would be taken to court once police complete recording their statements.
“We are still recording statements from the suspects. If we don’t finish by 5pm today [yesterday], we will take them to court tomorrow [Tuesday] and still be within the 24-hour rule of bringing suspects to court,” he said.
Mwanamvekha’s lawyer, Kalekeni Kaphale, who was at Lilongwe’s Area 3 Police in the morning, told The Nation that his client and Magalasi were being held at the station, while Chiunda and Muhara were still giving statements to fiscal police at Area 6 in the capital city.
The suspects face multiple charges, including conspiracy to expend public money without appropriation, obtaining a government guarantee without authority, obtaining government lending without parliamentary authority, money-laundering and conspiracy to use public office for advantage.
Last year, police also arrested four other individuals, including the former SSCL chairperson Shirieesh Betgiri in connection with the same issue.
Kalaya indicated that the police are currently searching for former GBA CEO Henri Njoloma, who they say is at large.
Meanwhile, DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba condemned the arrests, labelling them as the current administration’s acts of intimidation as having lost “the trust and support of the Malawian people, they seek to silence all opposing and dissenting voices”.
In July last year, Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda snubbed demands of AUM Sugar and Allied Limited (AUM SAL) to review the forensic audit report, which revealed that over K50 billion payments could not be validated at SSCL.
Earlier AUM SAL, through KD Freeman and Associates, wrote the AG, requesting to engage its own independent auditor to review the 2023 audit report, arguing that its findings had “very serious allegations”.
This was after government, through the Green Belt Initiative Holdings Limited (GBIHL), the parent company for Salima Sugar and GBI—terminated its shareholding deal with AUM Sugar and Allied Limited in SSCL due to breach of contract.
GBIHL and AUM SAL signed the Shareholding Agreement of the SSCL on August 27 2015 under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) venture wherein GBIHL held 40 percent shares whereas the Indian company held 60 percent.
SSCL was incorporated on October 22 2015, under Laws of Malawi and the said agreement AUM SAL was required to contribute $17.1 million while GBIHL put in $11.4 million.
SSCL was to further take a loan of $43.6 million to complete the project.
