Lawyer wants Bineth Trust secured
A legal expert has said there is a need for Malawi Government and the family of former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika to sign a consent on how the deceased estate was going to be protected from abuse.
Malawi Government, through the office of the Attorney General (AG), claimed it started the court process to turn the former president’s Bineth Trust into a public trust after it noticed abuse of the estate.
But Justin Dzonzi, executive director of Justice Link, said in an interview yesterday the fact that the matter was in court, there was little that could be done to protect the estate from the perceived abuse given that there were unexplained transfers of funds earlier.
Dzonzi, a lawyer by profession, said a consent entered between the two parties would have helped on how the estate was going to be handled and protect it from “any abuse.”
But chief State advocate Dr Zolomphi Nkowani assured in an interview on Wednesday the estate was safe from “any perceived abuse” because an order that was given by the High Court in Lilongwe, Commercial Division, restrained further transactions.
Nkowani said despite the fact that the former president’s bank accounts were unfrozen by the courts; trustees to the estate were appointed but are not allowed to make any transactions.
Government’s move to turn Bineth Trust into a public trust, if executed successfully, will leave the Mutharika family with nothing, including the imposing Ndata Mansion in Thyolo, as most of the late president’s property is under the trust.
According to the signed deed title filed in court and seen by The Nation, the trustees of Bineth Trust are the late Bingu wa Mutharika as chairperson, his late wife Ethel Mutharika, current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Peter Mutharika as vice chair, Madaliso Mutharika and Duwa Mutharika as trustee and secretary respectively.
Aims and objectives of the trust, according to the title deed the late president signed, is to administer the Bingu Academy of Sciences whose main objective is to enable Malawi to make a quantum leap in high level research in natural and medical sciences specifically based on Malawi’s needs for technological, economic, industrial, manufacturing, and agriculture development.
The Bineth Trust’s constitution states that upon winding up or dissolution of the trust there remains, after satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property whatsoever, shall not be paid to or distributed amongst the members of the trust but shall be distributed to other institutions having similar objectives to those of the trust subject to payment of expenses being incurred in disposing of such property by any officer or servant employed by the trust.
The late Mutharika, according to an evaluator government hired, is reported to have left a fortune of K61 billion (about $152m) in both cash and assets.
Mutharika, whose declared wealth was K150 million (about $375 000) when he became president in 2004, died in 2012 while in office.
