Malawi denied justice in K577bn cashgate, delay for report scrutiny over funding
Malawi government has not funded a meeting to scrutinise the preliminary report into the forensic exercise of the government’s accounts dating back to 2009 by PricewaterHouseCoopers (PwC) with names of those suspected to be at the centre of the plunder known as K92bn DPP-era cashgate.
The data analysis report compiled by audit and business advisory firm PricewaterHouseCoopers (PwC) titled ‘Final Analysis Report: Reconstruction of the Malawi Government Cashbook for Purposes of Further Investigation’ showed that K577 billion cannot be accounted for in the government’s bank statements between 2009 and December 2014.
The report was tabled in the National Assembly and referred to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for further scrutiny and analysis before reporting back to the House.
But PAC chairperson Alekeni Menyani disclosed “ Treasury has not made any money available for such an undertaking.”
The committee is expected to meet in September.
Treasury spokesperson Nations Msowoya said Parliament would eventually arrange meetings for committees.
The chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, Peter Chakwantha, accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of hiding a comprehensive audit with names of perpetrators.
Chakwantha claims government has two versions of the report, one which is a data analysis titled ‘Final Analysis Report: Reconstruction of the Malawi Government Cashbook for Purposes of Further Investigation’ and another which has names and details of what happened to payments amounting to K577 billion (US$1.3 billion) that are shown in bank statements, but cannot be traced in Capital Hill’s cashbook.
“One is the data analysis and the other is the real forensic audit report done by the PwC South African team. Now the government has chosen to feed Malawians the data analytic report version so that we all think that this is all that is on the table,” said Chakwantha.
Chakwantha lamented the mafia-like operation of the DPP to sweep under the carpet names of the culprits.
The data analysis revealed there were deliberate efforts to delete important data from the system and specifically mentioned the following suspicious actions as “red flags” requiring further investigation:
Suppliers created on one day but deleted either the same day or the following day
- Payments created and deleted on the same day;
- Invoices created and deleted on the same day;
- Vouchers created and deleted on the same day.
To arrive at the unaccounted for K577 billion, PwC says it analysed 1 788 295 bank statement payments between January 1 2009 and December 31 2014 and matched this against the total number of payment entries on the cashbook, which were found to be 1 007 075. Thus, 781 220 transactions were not accounted for in the Cashbook.
PwC, hired by the German government to work with the Auditor General’s office, assigned two teams—one from South Africa and another from the Malawi office.
Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa said the analysis had identified significant discrepancies between payments made from government bank accounts and cashbook records held in Ifmis.
A similar forensic audit covering April to September 2013 found that K24 billion could not be accounted for in the government’s accounts.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
We need the report. Anyone found guilty must be proscuted. Justice sees no face.
Pitara is hiding the names of cashgaters because he is involved if not him is his brother bingu but you pitara dont forget that u will not rule malawi forever one day uwil die ur family will payback ur sins
Muzifa imfa yowawa, nonse amene munaba kwacha yathu
Thank u chilima and company for imposing on us this DPP govt. But why cant also just play around with the computer as u did during elections?
I mean u chilima will shoulder all the blame for the sufferings of malawians.
I thought the forensic report with names was going to come out in 10 months time, now even less as we were promised. It would be more appropriate for pac to scrutinize the report then, not now. So what are they talking about? THe report is currently being doctored by dpp thugs to ensure that no cabinet member is implicated. Remember Peter saying very confidently that he wll fire anyone in his cabinet implicated in the report. He can only say so confidently if he knows that none of his cabinet will be caught and that can only come from… Read more »
Dziko la Malawi kuchititsa manyazi kuba ndalama za Boma zambimbiri chonchi ndiye chifukwa chake sitikutukuka onani mayiko anzathu mwachitsanzo Mozambique zoti anali nthawi yayitali pa Nkhondo ngati bodza Mayiko anzathu akutukuka.
Let them suffer that’s what they wanted akusangalala ndi ena iwo akhalira yozola paint wa Blue mmatupi.
I don’t understand the politics of those so colled have eyes and ears . I learnt through midia that the first one was just investigation and foresic follows later Pws said detailed ones will take 8 to 12 months not the GV of malawi. Chakhwantha why are u putting information without substance to innocent malawian as if we no nothing. Being alowyer by proffesional i understand you now some of these things tell us the trueth we do listen to current affairs everyday. Don’t mislead us.
I doubt if a Malawi on its own can find funds to probe the Audit further. With a meager budget which has already started struggling, it will be insane to compromise other budgets for this task which is not a priority now.
Mr Ine if it were you,would camp for several days carrying out official work using personal resources. Please be realistic when criticizing other people although you may not like them. Malawians let us learn to like our country regardless of our political afiliation. These politicians will be spoilt if we back them on even issues they did not do well. Where national issues are concerned let us rise above politics rest we be judged be the almighty God who sees everything including those done secretely. Bravo Malawi…Bravo