Man gets 18 months over ‘Cashgate’ vehicle
A Lilongwe man was on Wednesday sentenced to 18 months in jail for selling a stolen vehicle that found itself at the centre of the Cashgate scandal in 2013.
Mike Msungama was arrested for selling a vehicle to Victor Sithole who was arrested in September 2013 in Lilongwe after he was found in possession of K112 million, $31 900 and 121 000 rands in his Toyota Fortuner.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Apoche Itimu confirmed the conviction of Msungama.
Itimu said investigations revealed that the vehicle where the money was found was stolen in South Africa and Msungama was in the process of selling it to Maxwell Namata.
Namata was also implicated in the Cashgate scandal.
“Msungama and Sithole were charged with the offence of receiving property suspected to have been stolen outside Malawi, contrary to Section 331 of the Penal Code,” she said.
Sithole was acquitted on the charge, but remains in custody on remand pending trial for money laundering and other charges.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested five government officers suspected to have defrauded government of millions of kwacha.
ACB public relations officer Egritta Ndala said the bureau arrested Daniel Magalasi and Geoffrey Chimimba, accounts officers in the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development; Chrispin Mwale, who is working as an undersecretary at the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Alice Musa, an accountant at the Department of Nutrition and Charles Chalira, accounts assistant in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare.
Ndala said on October 5 2011, ACB received information alleging that public servants were making huge payments to companies they or their associates owned for services not offered to government.
“The Anti-Corruption Bureau instituted investigations into the matter. It was established that payments were being made to companies of public officers without offering government any service,” she said.
Ndala said Magalasi prepared three payment vouchers totalling K13 million payable to Green Rose General Suppliers and RA & AJ Inter Trading belonging to Richard Kapinga.
She said Chimimba collected two of the cheques and gave them to Kapinga.
According to Ndala, Mwale approved a payment voucher amounting to K2 million payable to Kapinga while Musa approved payment vouchers totalling K2 million and K1.5 million also payable to Kapinga.
She said Chalira was arrested for approving a payment voucher amounting to K1.5 million payable to RA & AJ Inter Trading and another cheque of K1.7 million for Hannet Enterprises belonging to Hunter Kavina.
“The suspects may each be charged with abuse of office and aiding and abetting a corrupt practice contrary to Section 25 B (1) and 35 of the Corrupt Practices Act, respectively,” said Ndala.
