Police find Manondo’s $184 000 in bank
Malawi Police in the capital, Lilongwe on Tuesday broke into a safe deposit box belonging to businessperson Pika Manondo, who is a suspect in the shooting of Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo, where they found $184 000 (about K75 million) in cash.
National Police deputy spokesperson Kelvin Maigwa confirmed that Manondo bought himself a safe deposit box with First Merchant Bank (FMB) Lilongwe Branch where he kept the money.
Said Maigwa: “We broke it and found over $184 000 in the box. The money is being kept by police as evidence.”
Manondo is on the Interpol wanted list where he is listed as Pika Pascal Manondo and being “wanted by the judicial authorities of Malawi for prosecution/to serve a sentence.”
The notice on the Interpol website said the 38-year-old Manondo was wanted on charges of attempted murder.
Other particulars on the notice include his picture, year and date of birth which is July 4 1975, place of birth which is Lilongwe.
In an interview with The Nation on Tuesday evening, Manondo, speaking from undisclosed location, said he was not afraid to face the law and that he was ready to explain to police what he knows about the shooting of Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo on September 13 2013.
Maigwa dismissed rumours that Interpol in South Africa had arrested the suspect.
The police search happened on the day Manondo granted an interview to The Nation in which he said he would be handing himself over to the Police this weekend on his arrival back in Malawi.
Manondo said: “Since there is a warrant of arrest, and a law abiding individual, I intend to hand over myself to Police and explain my side of the story.”
Manondo left through Mchinji border three days after Mphwiyo was shot at the gate of his Area 43 residence and airlifted to South Africa for further treatment.
Please take the money to the Reserve bank for safe keeping, we don’t trust our corrupt police. The next thing we will be told is that there was fire and the money has been burnt to ashes. Or something silly like makoswe adya ndalama zonse.
I have no problem with Manondo buying himself a safe deposit box. But, I find it surprising that a bank, which is supposed to know the rules about hoarding forex, allows the guy to stash so much in dollars.
Safe deposit box, hummmm, this is the real Jason Bourne of Malawi. By the way, banks consider safe deposit boxes as sovereign and have no control over what an individual keeps in them.
$184000 is what has been declared. But the question is how much exactly was there? Our police can’t be trusted especially when you consider the man on interpol wanted list was given VIP treatment when arriving into the country from wherever he was hiding. Its only in malawi where fugitives pass through VIP lounge . A police nawonso adyapo za mu safe deposit. Zimene asiya as exhibit for court case nd $184000