Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda has commenced legal action against five former senior employees of the Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) and two universities for allegedly defrauding the board of over K1.5 billion.
The five are Emma Tambala, Chimwemwe Kaphagawani, Enos Ganunga, Success Sikwese and the late Chris Chisoni, who served as director of loans and grants disbursement, loans and grants disbursement manager, finance and administration manager, communications manager and executive director respectively.
The two institutions of higher learning are Millennium University and the Africa University of Guidance, Counselling and Youth Development (AUGCYD).
Others added to the cases are Joyce Parma, mother to Tambala, businessperson Estere Mpulula and the late Jacqueline Chazema, who was vice-chancellor of AUGCYD (sued through a representative). The late Chisoni has also been sued through a representative.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Frank Namangale confirmed to Weekend Nation that the AG has initiated legal action against the accused in two separate cases.
In the first case, the board accuses Tambala, Kaphagawani, Ganunga, Chisoni and Millennium University of conspiring to defraudthe board of K1 258 207 000 from the 2017-2018 to 2020-2021 loan cycles.
In the other case, Tambala, Kaphagawani, Sikwese, Parma, Mpulula, the late Chazema, Chisoni and AUGCYD are being accused of conspiring to swindle the board of K300 million.
However, Namangale stated that the AG has already filed summons at the Commercial Court in Lilongwe against Tambala, Kaphagawani, Sikwese, Parma, Mpulula, a representative of the late Chazama, and a representative of the late Chisoni in the AUGCYD case.
He further clarified: “The summons, under Millennium University, against Tambala, Kaphagawani, Ganunga, the representative of the deceased estate of Chris Chisoni, and Millennium University are yet to be filed.”
According to the AG’s statement of claim in the first case, Tambala (1st defendant), Kaphagawani (2nd defendant), Ganunga (3rd defendant) and the late Chisoni (4th defendant) breached their fiduciary duties towards the board by conspiring with Millennium University (5th defendant) to defraud the money by creating a fictitious list of student beneficiaries.
The statement claims that at various times between 2017 and 2021, the four allegedly signed and processed fraudulent payments to Millennium University purportedly for its students.
The loan transactions reportedly occurred without the board’s recommendation. The AG says even the press statements issued by the board on the approved lists did not include the university’s students as part of the grantees.
According to the statement, particulars of fraud and irregularities include board of directors not approving loans to the university’s students during the 2017-2018 loan cycle, deliberate inflation of tuition fees per semester by the university and creation of fictitious loan beneficiaries.
Others include disbursement of K453 million as fees for 422 students despite that all the 208 applicants from the university were rejected.
They also include a huge number of students that they had accessed the loans from HESLGB and tuition fees amounting to K590 million being disbursed to the university before it was accredited by the National Council for Higher Education.
The board pleads that the defendants unjustly enriched themselves with the money which they, consequently, owe the institution a duty to account for.
Thus, it claims being deprived of K1 258 207 000 which was meant to benefit the needy and deserving students from accessing student loans.
The statement of claim for the second case states that on April 8 2019, Tambala and Kaphagawani, with intent to defraud the board, based on a letter dated April 2 2019 authored by the late Chazema which contained a purported list of AUGCYD students, raised a loose minute requesting a payment of K300 million for the university’s purported tuition fees for 176 students for the 2018/2019 academic year.
The money was paid to the university on the same day the loose minute was raised, but it only reflected in the institution’s account on April 10 2019.
According to the particulars of fraud, after the money was credited into the university’s bank account, Tambala allegedly conspired with Chazema to issue cheques to the defendants amounting to K220 million and the money was withdrawn between April 12 and May 16 2019.
The beneficiaries included Tambala (K75 million), Kaphagawani (K25 million), Sikwese (K10 million), Parma (K57 million), Chazema (K8 million) while Mpulula and Chisoni together got K45 million. The remaining K80 million was reportedly used for the operations of the university.
In the two cases, the board through the AG, is claiming damages from its former employees for breach of fiduciary duties and, in respect of all the defendants, damages for breach of contract and damages for inconvenience and a court order directing all the defendants to account for the K300 million.
In August 2020, Chisoni, Ganunga and Kaphagawani were arrested for alleged abuse of finances at the board. The trio was answering to charges of money-laundering, abuse of office and theft by public servant.
The three were suspected to have duped the board K5.1 million in claimed subsistence allowances and fuel refunds for a meeting that never took place but funds were withdrawn from the board’s account.
However, in October 2021 the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court removed Chisoni from the charge sheet following his death in September 2021.
