Chief Justice assures timely Cashgate justice

Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has pledged timely and fair justice in the handling and disposal of Cashgate cases.
Nyirenda said this in Lilongwe on Wednesday on the sidelines of a Justice sector-led Cashgate Workshop to find the cause of the plunder of public resources from Capital Hill and find the way forward to avoid a repeat.

He said clear examples of Cashgate prosecutions will demonstrate to the public that the country was serious about prosecuting cases related to the scandal and tackling corruption in general.
Said the Chief Justice: “I speak for the courts; I can assure the public [that] we will do what we can on our part to ensure that these cases see their way through the courts and we also want to urge other government institutions to do what they can to ensure these cases are a priority.”
In attendance at the two-day conference are representatives of the Judiciary, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) officials, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Malawi Law Commission, among others.
Citizen for Justice (CFJ) board chairperson Margaret Sikwese urged the justice sector to ensure that the country’s laws are observed to the letter.
CFJ, with support from Giz and U-4—a Norway-based Anti-Corruption Resource Centre—are organising the two-day conference.
Current Cashgate cases are based on a forensic audit report by British firm Baker Tilly which established that between April and September 2013, about K24 billion in public funds was siphoned from Capital Hill through abuse of government’s central payment system, Integrated Financial Information Management System (Ifmis).
However, a recent financial analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) indicated that between 2009 and December 2014, about K577 billion in Malawi Government accounts could not be accounted for.