Cashgate showdown

• House committee meets ACB boss, AG, DPP

• Issues discussed too sensitive to be shared—LAC chair

• Kondowe says to be called again

The Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) of Parliament on Wednesday quizzed top officers investigating and prosecuting the lingering Cashgate cases, but remained tight-lipped on what the  inquiries yielded.

In two separate meetings in Lilongwe, LAC members met with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director Lucas Kondowe and his deputy Reyneck Matemba.

The committee also met Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale.

The flurry of movements of the officials, and some of their body language as they entered and departed the venue of the closed-door meetings, showed that the encounters were heated.

That notion seemed to gain traction when LAC chairperson Maxwell Thyolera said the officials had been invited to tell the committee progress made on a number of Cashgate-related issues, which “were too sensitive to be shared with the media at this stage”.

“I know the media have all the reports on this matter, but I am pleading with you that the matter is very sensitive. As soon as our investigations are concluded, my committee will hold a press briefing and inform the public on the outcome of our meetings,” Thyolera said.

The first to appear before the committee was the AG, who went into the meeting alone. After him, came a joint appearance by ACB director, his deputy and DPP.

Although the ACB director had been accompanied by a contingent of his staff—including investigators, lawyers and the lead prosecutor Kamdoni Nyasulu—the others did not appear before the LAC officials during the meeting that lasted nearly an hour.

Weekend Nation noted that after initially appearing for five minutes, DPP and ACB directors came out of the meeting, only to return after 20 minutes.

According to reliable sources within the committee, the LAC enquiry centred on how the officers are handling the Cashgate cases and on their working relationship.

After he emerged from the meeting, Kaphale told Weekend Nation that he was invited to discuss a report the DPP had submitted to the committee over Cashgate-related issues.

The DPP’s report to LAC shows that her office denied the ACB consent to include former budget director Paul Mphwiyo in a case former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) commander Henry Odillo and others are answering charges relating to the loss of K2.3 billion of government resources.

Sources within the committee said there was a heated debate between the committee and the summoned officials, adding that names of prominent figures involved in the investigations of Cashgate cases were mentioned.

In a separate interview, the ACB director told Weekend Nation that he could not divulge the issues discussed in the meeting.

Kondowe, however, added that he is expected to appear before the committee again soon.

Of late, there have ben concerns of slow progress in Cashgate cases and the projected recovery outturn, especially of the K24 billion that is suspected to have been looted between April and September 2013.

But there is even more money that is suspected to have been stolen during the five years leading to December 2014—initially estimated at K577 billion—but which is now down to K236 billion.

The snail’s pace at which the cases are being heard means that it would take years to finish prosecuting them—leaving hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money to fate.

The DPP and ACB are leading the prosecution of 69 people suspected to have links to the missing of K24 billion from government coffers.

But there is little movement on the larger K236 billion with progress on some 13 files that the National Audit Office (NAO) sent to ACB for investigations remaining elusive.