Simply theft! There has been plunder of millions of taxpayers money at Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (Magla) by senior management employees amounting to a whopping K600 million.
The development has seen the suspension of two senior officers, Henri Bakuwa who is Director of Finance, Administration and Human Resources and Ofwa Alide who is Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary.
We can reveal that a former Chief Executive Officer Foster Mulumbe is wanted for questioning by authorities on his role in the plunder.
Documents that we have seen show that the trio used to transfer money from some accounts of the company from National Bank of Malawi (NBM) to another company account held at FDH Bank which was only known to the three managers.
Money in excess of K593 million was taken and shared by the three individuals in a space of two years.
“A pattern was observed in the account whereby there would be a bank transfer from National Lotteries Board (NLB) followed by cheque withdraws by individuals believed to be employees of Malawi Gaming Board,” reads a document in our possession.
The FDH ‘unknown’ account was apparently opened in September 2019 by Bakuwa soon after joining the institution from Blantyre Water Board (BWB) where he was also embroiled in financial mismanagement and procurement scandals.
Bakuwa would transfer money from the NLB account held at NBM to the FDH account and later use cheques to withdraw the money. For Example, on 18 September 2019, there was a telex transfer to the FDH account from NLB NBM account amounting to K20,092,185. Further transfers of K20 million were done on 31 October 2019, 15 November 2019, 12 December 2019, 16 January 2020, 31 January 2020, 5 June 2020 and 22 June 2020.
On 21 July 2020, a total of K30 million was transferred to the FDH account followed by another transfer from a fixed deposit-1475000030085 of K15 million on 5 October 2020. Some of the huge transfers were done on 30 December 2020 amounting to K55 million and on 17 February 2021 a transfer of K100 million was effected.
According to information we have seen, Bakuwa personally withdrew money from the FDH account in various amounts like K15.8 million on 27 May 2020, K1.3 million on 1 June 2020, K15 million on 16 June 2020, K9.3 million on 22 June 2020, K8.5 million on 1 December 2020, K6 million on 12 October 2020, K7.6 million on 10 February 2021 amongst several withdraws that he made.
We can also reveal that Mlumbe personally authorized payment of cheque number 000017 amounting to K24, 763,485.00 on 22 July 2020and cashed it himself on the same day. He also cashed other cheques of K6 million on 31 December 2020, K3.6 million on 19 February 2021, and K5 million on 24 February 2021 amongst other transactions the former CEO did.
Before joining MGB, Mlumbe was implicated in a maize deal scam involving millions of kwacha at Agricultural Development and marketing Corporation (Admarc) where he was CEO.
Ofwa Alide, wife to High Court Judge, Justice Jabbar Alide did not want to be left out in the party. She too withdrew money from the ‘unknown’ FDH account. On 4 June 2020, using cheque number 00006, Alide withdrew K600,469 before making another withdrawal on 10 September 2020 amounting to K741,714.00 using cheque number 0000015.
Alide’s biggest withdrawal was done on 27 October 2020 amounting to K3,876,893.42 through cheque number 0000020 before withdrawing K3.6 million on 12 March 2021 through cheque number 0000035.
In order to make the FDH account ‘legitimate’, Bakuwa gave cheques to some senior members of staff to cash ‘so that it looks like the account was for all the people at MGB yet there were only three people who benefited’.
So, on 4 June 2020, David Saeluzika cashed K600, 469 through cheque number 000005 disguised as entertainment allowance while on 3 June 2020, Emmanuel Ted Nandolo also cashed K576,876.00 using cheque number 000007 also disguised as entertainment allowance.
Another manager Lawrence Chikoko was given cheque number 0000034 amounting K1.8 million which he cashed on 19 February 2021.
“In general, the amounts moved from NLB through an account of MGB at FDH then finally to the beneficiaries as summarized in table 3 above. Malawi Gaming Board further noted that the amounts to the individuals were done even when there travel restrictions due to the covid019 pandemic,” reads part of the report that we have seen.
Magla Board chairperson Bernard Ndau confirmed to a local newspaper that there is indeed a forensic audit at Magla but declined to comment further.
Bakuwa and Alide all declined to comment on the matter although they confirmed that they have been suspended from work.
Mlumbe also declined to comment when contacted.
The problem lies with the recruiting authorities who trusts plunderers in such big positions. How and why did they give such a post to someone who mismanaged funds in another organisation?
These are political appointments to individuals who use these ill-gotten money to finance political party activities. Such illegal activities are overlooked when making the appointments. As long as the individual is using his position to “thank” the party for such appointment then his illegal activities are non-consequential. Thus the reality of our times.