Maravi

(NYASATIMES) Malawi govt after Mutharika’s money stashed in foreign banks

Malawi govt after Mutharika’s money stashed in foreign banks
By Gerald Namwaza, Nyasa Times
July 26, 2012

Malawi government has dispatched secret agents specialised in money laundering to Europe to trace the wealth of former president Bingu wa Mutharika, sources close to the operation have exclusively told the Nyasa Times.

Mutharika is believed to have stashed millions of money in foreign banks mainly in Europe which government analysts believe is funding the recent apparent resurgence of the outsmarted Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

DPP, under the tutelage of its heir apparent, Peter Mutharika, have had well patronised rallies in his home district Thyolo and another one in central.

However it is believed that people were ferried to the venues to make it look as if many people attended the meetings because they still love the party.

Peter Mutharika: Inherited Bingu wa Mutharika's estate, party

Elections

Political commentators have said numbers of people attending a political rally does not necessarily signify that a party is popular and that people will vote for it during elections.

“There so many factors why people go to attend political meetings, most of the people go there to while their time away while others just attend the political party meetings as a form of entertainment and then there are others who simply go there to watch and observe things. Yet others go there for handouts or see what they can get out of the politicians,” said a political commentator.

But DPP party gurus have said that the PP government is scared stiff with the masses turn-out to its meetings and that they are spending sleepless nights over it.

“We know government will come hard on us because we have grassroots support and they will intimidate us but we will not stop fighting for the good things that our party stands for,” said DPP spokesman Nicholous Dausi, who is also implicated in the infamous ‘Midnight Six’.

The Midnight Six are implicated in a case allegedly attempting to subvert the Malawi Constitution and prevent the current president Joyce Banda taking over after the sudden demise of Bingu wa Mutharika. The matter is in courts.

Dausi said the party does not pay people to come to its meetings.

“People are attracted with the ideologies, the beliefs and the tenets of democracy that are enshrined in our party,” Dausi said.

He added that the party was well funded by well wishers who have seen that the current government is not delivering.

He said the current devaluation of the kwacha has made the lives of many Malawians miserable as the cost of living has jumped, a fact collaborated by faith based Centre for Social Concern (CFSC).

Backdrop

In their June report CFSC says the cost of living sequence has revealed how an increasing numbers of people could be struggling to cope as, against a backdrop of growing unemployment and shrinking wages, the prices of staple food (maize) has risen by an average of 19 percent in one month in four cities, with Blantyre topping the list at 73percent.

A source at the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) confirmed there was a dual docket for both the former president and Peter Mutharika on how they acquired sudden wealth.

“I don’t think there is any political witch hunt, all that government machinery is doing is to find out how the former president and his brother Peter, as well as other party officials acquired their wealth,” said the source.

DPP government put former president Bakili Muluzi on corruption charges.

Bingu wa Mutharika, close to bankruptcy before his ascendancy to presidency and joining Bakili Muluzi’s United Democratic Front (UDF) build a multibillion mansion in his home, refurbished his Bineth farm in Zimbabwe beyond recognition and amassed wealth that is the current source of conflict between his wife Callista and brother Peter.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA

posted by MrK @ 3:56 PM