State to examine Lutepo property assessor
The Malawi Government says it will carefully scrutinise names of property valuers to be hired to re-evaluate assets Cashgate convict Oswald Lutepo intends to surrender to the State.
In an interview on Sunday, deputy director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Reyneck Matemba, who is representing the State alongside the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale, advised the defence to propose names that would not create suspicion if the process is to speed up.
He said: “There is a list of recognised valuers…”
Lutepo wants to restitute his Woget Industries Limited in Blantyre before the High Court in Zomba starts hearing his sentence submissions on August 31 2015.
However, the property is a subject of dispute following variations in valuations conducted separately by the defence and the State in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
While the defence claims the company was valued at K1.427 billion ($2.7 million) two years ago, government assessors put the property, which the State had initially targeted to confiscate, at K293 million.
On Friday, the High Court in Zomba adjourned hearing of the case to August 31 2015 to give time to the two parties to resolve the disparities on the actual value of the assets.
Lutepo was convicted on his own plea of guilty on charges of conspiracy to defraud government and money laundering K4.2 billion between April and October 2013.
