‘We communicated with our counterparts of the same but for him to appear on the red list, it was up to Interpol to do that’
Six months after the court revoked bail for Cashgate suspect, Paul Mphwiyo, and nine months after police declared him a fugitive, he is still not Interpol’s red notice alert despite the police reporting him.
National police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said immediately after Mphwiyo escaped last year, they informed their Interpol counterparts about the matter.
“Malawi Police Service (MPS) declared Mphwiyo a fugitive after we discovered that he is on the run. We communicated with our counterparts of the same but for him to appear on the red list, it was up to Interpol to do that,” Kalaya said.
According to Kalaya, sometimes it us not all fugitives that appear on the red notice.
An Interpol red notice is an international alert for a wanted person.
According to details about the alert, the notice is issued if the person is sought to serve a sentence and has already been found guilty by a court in the requesting country.
It is a request to law enforcement systems worldwide to locate and arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
The individuals are wanted by the requesting member country, or international tribunal and member countries apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest a person or not.
Extracts of red notices are published at the request of the member country concerned and where the public’s help may be needed to locate an individual.
In August 2023, Malawi police declared Mphwiyo a fugitive after he was declared missing on June 26.
High Court Judge Ruth Chinangwa in Lilongwe revoked the bail for Mphwiyo after the Anti- Corruption Bureau made the application to the court.
The state informed the court that Mphwiyo had not reported for his bail as per the conditions.
The court ordered his arrest whenever and wherever he is found.
It also ordered that Mphwiyo’s bail bond of K10 million and that of his four sureties that were each bonded at K2 million be forfeited to the government.
In the most recent action on the matter, the High Court of Malawi also ordered the forfeiture of his residential house in Area 43 in Lilongwe.
Last week, his wife applied to restrain the forfeiture but the court also rejected her application.
Making the ruling dated March 28 2024 in Lilongwe, Judge Chinangwa said Mphwiyo should have known better the consequences of absconding bail on the bonded property.
Mphwiyo is answering corruption charges related to the Cashgate which happened in 2013.
He was found with a case to answer and the case is waiting for judgment.
Police preliminary findings about his escape indicate that Mphwiyo left Lilongwe through Kamuzu International Airport to Chileka International Airport where he checked out and was last seen leaving Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre.
Mphwiyo, along with other cashgate suspects, is accused of defrauding the government of K2.4 billion when he was budget director.
