Three arrested for forgery, theft and false insurance claim

Malawi Police Service in Chileka, Blantyre have arrested three men for forgery, altering false documents and theft which resulted into a successful claim of about K2 million from an insurance company in Blantyre.

Chileka Police Station Public Relations Officer, Sub Inspector Peter Mchiza disclosed the incident in an interview.

The publicist said that Penjani Lungu, 38, John Sumbuleta, 40, and Acten Mashelo, 50 are allegedly connected to an insurance claim theft at Liberty Insurance Company in Blantyre last year in June.

“The company reportedly received a claim for damages and injuries from Mervis Adam who was involved in a car accident and that the claim, which had both police and medical reports, came through Mwangulube and Company, one of the law firms in Blantyre,” Mchiza added.

The questionable claim indicated the victim of an accident, the accident spot, date of the accident, registration number of the car and driver’s name.

“According to the claim, Adam was involved in a car accident at Lirangwe Bridge on April 17 2019 and that the accident involved a Toyota Corolla Axio registration number MN 9110 which was being driven by Ishmael Yasin,” said Mchiza.

Mchiza added that the insurance company processed the claim and Adam was compensated through Mwangulube and Company cash amounting to K1, 974,667.00.

“After few months, the very same claim, bearing same particulars but with a different name of a victim, was again received by Liberty Insurance Company,” the police publicist added.

He added that the insurance company became suspicious of another claim and was prompted to report the matter to the law enforcers for action.

“When the company recognised the claim as the one which it had already paid for, it reported to Chileka Police for investigations,” he said.

Mchiza added that police investigations led to the arrest of the three suspects linked to the allegation who in the course of questioning revealed that no any accident of such nature had happened before.

“The suspects hired a person to pose as a victim in a deal which also involved dirty lawyers and sheriffs,” he said, adding that the police have since seized a desktop computer from the suspects which they were using during transactions.

Mchiza said police are currently investigating the matter to trace a chain of other suspects who are still at large.

Meanwhile, the police are reminding insurance companies to do thorough investigations into any claim before releasing money to avoid transacting with people with criminal intentions.

Lungu comes from Chidyamulungu Village, Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba, Sumbuleta comes from Mtenje Village, Senior Chief  Machinjiri in Blantyre while Acten Mashelo is from Pasani Village in Senior Chief Kapeni in Blantyre.

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