K600 million Cashgate assets seized
The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs has said that government has seized property valued at K600 million and about K175 million cash believed to be proceeds of Cashgate crimes, in the 2016/2017 financial year.
Officials from the ministry, led by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale, made the revelation when they appeared before Legal Affairs and Privileges committees of Parliament on Tuesday.
Director of Finance and Administration in the ministry, George Masinga, read the presentation on behalf of his team.
In the presentation, Masinga said the office of the DPP prosecuted 982 cases at the end of the third quarter out of the targeted 1,130 in the financial year.
“[The office of the DPP] obtained two more convictions on Cashgate cases, which bring the total to 15, it confiscated K175,556,269.09, ZAR40,000 and US$20,000 from defendants. [The office] also filed applications for confiscation orders for K800 million before the court to seize money and property which are proceeds of Cashgate offences,” Masinga said.
According to the presentation, a conviction on transnational wildlife-related case was registered, which demonstrated inter-agency collaboration with the police, the Malawi Revenue Authority, the Department of Immigration and the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
“Property valued at K600 million was confiscated and forfeited to the Malawi Government,” he added.
He also said in the year, the DPP provided technical advice and granted relevant consents to the police, Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The two committees were scrutinising allocations to the ministry headquarters, the DPP, the office of the Registrar General and the Administrator General Department. All the votes under the ministry have been allocated K3.2 billion against last year’s K2.1 billion, representing a 54.45 percent increase.
Kachale said she is happy with the allocation to her department.
“We are very thankful to the government for giving us this increase. It motivates us to perform better. The ministry gave us everything we asked and more,” Kachale said.
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