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Malawi, donor meet deferred due to cash-gate scandal

Malawi’s key donors under the Common Approach to Budget Support (Cabs) and the Malawi Government have postponed to a later date their biannual review meeting which was scheduled for today, owing it to the Capital Hill cash-gate.

In a joint statement between the Ministry of Finance and the Department for International Development (DfID), which currently chairs Cabs, the meeting will now take place on November 7 2013.

Reads the statement: “The first 2013/14 Common Approach to Budget Support biannual review will take place on November 7 2013. This review was originally scheduled for the October 31 2013”

“However, due to the current developments, the Ministry of Finance has agreed with DfID as the current chair of the Cabs partners to postpone the review meeting by one week,” it adds.

The statement says the postponement was agreed to afford the newly appointed Minister of Finance Maxwell Mkwezalamba to settle down and also take stock of current fraud and corruption investigations.

“Second, a number of critical international teams will shortly arrive to assist with the investigations and assess the implications of the recent discovery of weaknesses in the government’s financial management systems,” it says.

The statement further says: “In addition, a forensic audit team is about to start work this week, and an IMF mission beginning early next week will, among others, assess fiscal implications of the current crisis in public financial management.”

The review comes at a time Malawi is rocked by the worst fraud scandal in the public service which has reportedly drained over K100 billion (over $250m) of taxpayers money through dubious payouts to companies that did not provide any goods or services.

 

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