Police net ex-RBM officials
Malawi Police Service (MPS) agents in Lilongwe Sunday arrested one serving Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) official and two ex-central bank officials in connection with the forensic audit the bank conducted recently, sources from the bank and police confirmed in separate interviews.
According to the sources, the three arrested officials are former RBM deputy governor Henry Mathanga, former director Rodrick Wiyo and a serving manager at the bank, Leya Donga.
Further information indicates that the police were searching for former RBM governor Dalitso Kabambe.
MPS spokesperson James Kadadzera could not be reached for his comment but a senior law enforcer confirmed the development.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Defenders Coalition Chairperson Gift Trapence has said his organisation was happy that their call to arrest former employees had been taken into consideration
“There has been a lot of suspected allegations of dubious transactions [especially] towards the [May 21 2019] elections by the mother bank [RBM] and Malawians will now know the truth about these transactions,” Trapence said.
In December last year, auditors instituted a forensic appraisal of RBM to ascertain how its affairs had been managed recently, with the central bank’s spokesperson Onilie Nkuna indicating at the time that the audit would be concluded in the first quarter of 2021.
A forensic audit is an examination and evaluation of a firm’s or individual’s financial records to derive evidence that can be used in a court of law or legal proceedings.
“The forensic audit is in progress and, as of now, nothing is conclusive. It is expected that the forensic audit will conclude during the first quarter of 2021. Being a public institution, the bank will share the results of the audit with all stakeholders,” Nkuna told The Daily Times at the time.
She said, when the Tonse Alliance-led government came into power, it commissioned a forensic audit that would indicate if, indeed, there were anomalies in running central bank affairs.
