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Update: Kasambara says new money laundering charges is joke

Raphael Kasambara reading his charge sheet at his home in Area 10 minutes before he was rearested.
Raphael Kasambara reading his charge sheet at his home in Area 10 minutes before he was rearested.

It never rains but pours for former Malawi Justice Minister Raphael Kasambara who was today rearrested on money laundering charges.

Kasambara who was on bail on alleged attempted murder of former Budget Director  Paul Mphwiyo was arrested this morning at his Area 10 residence in the capital, Lilongwe.

The Malawi police also confiscated Kasambara’s Mercedes Benz, registration NB 4375, which police say was the vehicle used in the shooting of Mphwiyo.

Dressed in blue denims jeans, checked shirt and a dark blue jacket with sandals, the former minister looked relaxed and laughed off the charge, saying “It’s a joke of a charge,” he said.

According to Kasambara, the police, whose first attempt to affect an arrest failed to effect due to an error on the warrant of arrest, arrived at his home at 5:30am on two vehicles, a white land cruiser which towed the Mercedez Benz to Area 30 and a beige Toyota Corolla.

Kasambara was taken to police headquarters in Area 30, before being transferred to Lilongwe Police Station in Area 3.

According the warrant of arrest, Kasambara is being charged with money laundering contrary to Section 35 of the Money Laundering Act.

In an interview at his Area 10 residence, Kasambara said the transaction was done when he was a Cabinet minister and was no longer associated with the law firm in question.

“The police should have done their research better before coming and arresting me. The transaction which they are arresting me for was done during the time I was minister and I declared that I was no longer involved in running the [Ralph and Arnolds] Associates account, so how I can I be held liable to a client’s accounts, that’s for the administration,” he said.

The cheque is said to have belonged to Pika Manondo, who wanted to buy a house and had contacted Ralph and Arnolds to assist him.

Malawi Police Service (MPS) spokesperson Rhoda Manjoro could not say if Kasambara will be released after questioning today.

“He is still in our custody, yes, but I don’t know if he will sleep in our custody or he will be released,” she said.

This is the second arrest for Kasambara who is expected to appear in court to answer charges of suspected murder of Paul Mphwiyo next month.

In the morning, Police also seized a camera belonging to Nation Publications Limited (NPL) photo-journalist Thoko Chikondi in full view of the press but it was later given back.

—Read The Nation tomorrow for more details, reactions and analysis.

 

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10 Comments

    1. I think the government know tha Kasambara is the center of all evidences, and that allowing to stay outside the custody, might give people access to him, hence alot of revelations might be done. The govenment is panic with him.

  1. Bu do you think our police or our DPP (Director of Publ Prosec.) have the guts to out do this guy Ralph. Moreover what we will be hearing tomorrow from our incompetent police is ‘we are still investigating the matter’ until further notice. If you have really arrested him then take him to court not just piling up cases whose ends not even the police knows.
    My question to Ralph. Will amayi JB not be your witness this time

  2. Our police is a bunch of nincopoomps, how can they impound a car used in the shooting four months afta the act?

    And why not just arrest the Kachale brothers, Chivunde, Mphwiyo, so that the games can begin in earnest!

  3. kasambara woyee,akukuwopa mwana wa pa rumphi chitipa,usadanda uwulule zamambiri za joyce akamakuvuta wamva, usaope,ziko likukuwona usakhale ndi mantha

  4. It is quiet alarming at the rate of change Malawi’s image is becoming that of Nigeria, I remember one of the SAPS officers in the streets of JHB once said, “gone are those days when nyasa people used to be regarded as the most peaceful and trust worth” today we are listed as the most notorious nation. gone are those days when one would be glad to have met a fellow Malawian, today we avoid each other like a cat and a dog, what happened to the old peaceful Malawi.

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