Malawi police say they have not discovered a connection between the shooting of Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo and the theft of billions of public funds under his watch. However, he remains a crucial witness in his attempted murder case.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (operations) Nelson Bophani told journalists in the capital, Lilongwe on Monday that Mphwiyo had given the police strong clues as to who fired three bullets into his body on September 13 at the gates of his Area 43 house in Lilongwe.
Said Bophani: “At this stage, he is a witness in the shooting case. We are not sure about the corruption and theft case. If more information comes tomorrow, that will be something else, but for now, he is a witness. The fact that he is around now, we are comfortable he will give us proper direction on this matter.”
When queried why Mphwiyo was being given police protection, Bophani said as a victim and witness of his own shooting, Mphwiyo required that kind of protection.
But he gave the media the carte blanche to interview him, saying, however, he would not be able to disclose any crucial information unless in court.
Mphwiyo arrived in the country on Thursday after spending almost three months in a South African hospital where he was receiving treatment for his gunshot wounds.
About seven people have been arrested in connection to Mphwiyo’s shooting, among them former minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ralph Kasambara and his bodyguard Kenston Gani.
So far, police have confiscated four buses which were dubiously procured through the Ministry of Tourism, two houses and three plots in Lilongwe.
Currently, police have concluded investigations into 18 cases and these have been handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
In a related development, police on Sunday arrested five people at Mphwiyo’s Area 43 residence whom they accused of attempting to murder the budget director who returned from South Africa last week.
A relative of one of the arrested individuals, Masautso Humba, said his uncle, Fredrick Tsokalankhuku, is among the five and identified the other four as Harrison Masala, Mekias Phiri, a Mr. Herbert and another man known by his nickname ‘Short’.
Humba said the five were burning two brick kilns in Area 43 and were arrested when their car was found parked outside the gate of Mphwiyo’s house after it had run out of fuel around 2am.
He said when Tsokalankhuku returned to the scene with four other men to push the vehicle from Mphwiyo’s house, they found armed police officers who allegedly ordered them to leave the vehicle and collect it in the morning.
Come morning, they were taken to National Police Headquaters where theye were reportedly charged with attempted murder.
He said police yesterday, however, dropped the attempted murder charge and gave the five a new charge of trespassing.
National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo on Monday said she did not have details of the case and referred The Nation to Lilongwe Police spokesperson Ramsey Mushani who said he was out of office and needed to check with other officers on the case later.
