Lutepo hands himself to police
Barely one week after declaring he was ready to face the law, businessperson Oswald Lutepo yesterday lived up to his word and handed himself over to police.Lutepo, upon arrival from an undisclosed location, drove straight to the National Police Headquarters at Area 30 in Lilongwe accompanied by his lawyer, Jai Banda.
Malawi Police Service (MPS) deputy national spokesperson Kelvin Maigwa confirmed that Lutepo, 35, was at Area 30 and was being questioned by police officers.
Said Maigwa: “Lutepo is with us and we are questioning him. The kind of charges that will be placed on him will be known later on, but he is with us. He handed himself in the company of his lawyer this afternoon.”
Lutepo has been on the police wanted list in the wake of the Capital Hill cash-gate which was widely exposed following the shooting on September 13 2013 of Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
Two weeks ago, Weekend Nation reported seeing and verifying a list of 20 bank accounts and their names that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is probing as part of the cash-gate crackdown.
Of the 20 frozen bank accounts, eight either wholly belong to Lutepo as an individual or he jointly owns them with partners.
The remaining 12 firms belong to various entrepreneurs, according to information contained in letters that ACB director Justice Rizine Mzikamanda has sent to various banks.
MPS said it alerted International Police (Interpol) to issue warrant of arrests for Lutepo and another person, Pika Manondo.
Deputy Police Inspector General Nelson Bophani, who is also in charge of a special crime investigations committee, said Lutepo is wanted in connection with the alleged pilfering of government money while Manondo is a suspect in the shooting of Mphwiyo.
Meanwhile, police yesterday searched the safe deposit box of Manondo where they found money amounting to US$184,000 (K73.6 million). The money according to Maigwa is being kept by police as evidence. The search for Manondo who is still at large, continues.
I can’t believe that our borders are such porous that fugitives of high profile like Lutepo can just walk out and in without being arrested or detected.
He managed to assemble his legal team, meet with family members and friends but the police never knew about it? I think there is more to this guy than what we are being led to believe.
This guy has connections in high places, he might even have a special cell at area 30 with a five star rating.
The whole thing does not make sense. I dont know what to believe anymore from our police. A guy of his calibre, on wanted list and yet still managed to gonthrough KIA? Does this make sense to anyone? What is it that we are not being told?
There is something amiss here.. How can a guy who is on Interpol wanted list travel travel all the way from Asia to Malawi without being arrested? And on arrival at home, he manages to clear through immigration and airport police! How did he do that? Further, police spokesman Maigwa’s words that “Lutepo is with us …” clearly show the kind of special treatment that this suspect is being given at area 30.
If Lutepo wz an opposition figure many wud’ve sed de arrest is political,worse still if he wz not in de cooler news wud’ve bin awash dat de govt is protecting it’s party members.However since he has handed over himself 2 de police jst lyk wat N.Masangwi did,hz case wl be viewed differently as antigovt propagandist wud still try 2 potray dis as somekind of a political gimmick jst fool pple into biliving dat de arrest are impartial!
if he met amai two days ago as is rumored elsewhere do not expect anything to come out of this. this guy has been protected from word go. Remember he is a conduit of stolen money from government to PP