Malawi Police arrests DPP MPs, former Reserve Bank governor

Malawi Police Service has arrested two members of parliament for Democratic Progressive Party DPP Joseph Mwanamveka and Beni Phiri as well as former governor of Reserve Bank of Malawi Dalitso Kabambe

Public relations officer of Malawi Police Service James Kadadzera says the arrest of Mwanamveka and Kabambe is on suspicion that they committed an offence of abuse of office contrary to section 95 subsection 1 and procured the commission of an offence of fraudulent false accounting contrary to section 335 subsection 1 of penal code

Mwanamveka and Phiri were former cabinet Ministers in DPP government while Kabambe and Mwanamveka are two of the presidential aspirants of DPP

According to Kadadzera the two while serving as Minister of finance and reserve bank governor respectively procured and masterminded the falsification of gross liability and net reserve bank returns with intent to make international monetary fund IMF believe that the government of Malawi was meeting conditions connected to the extended credit facility

As a result of this scheme, IMF suspended the said extended credit facility to the prejudice of innocent ordinary Malawians.

“Mwanamveka and other persons yet to arrested will also be questioned in connection with the fraudulent sale of Malawi Savings Bank in the year 2015,” Kadadzera

In a related development Malawi Police Service has confirmed the arrest of Beni Phiri as the registered owner of Beata investment in relation to some procurement fraud and corruption at Ministry of gender between 2018 and 2020

The arrest of Mwanamveka, Kabambe and Phiri comes a day after attorney general Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda during a press briefing said parliament had given him mandate to recover the money that was realized illegally such as the sale of Malawi Savings Bank MSB

Nyirenda held the meeting together with Minister of information where they also tackled various issues including of IMF and printing of passports by department of immigration

The meeting was the first of the new platform through which different government officials will be addressing issues of national interest called face the press