Beleaguered Director of Finance, Administration and Human Resources at Malawi Gaming Board Henri Bakuwa has resigned from his post, two days before he was going to appear before a board disciplinary committee for plunder of resources amounting to K600 million.
Bakuwa together with Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary Ofwa Alide were suspended to pave the way for an audit over the disappearance of K600 million through a parallel bank account operated by the two and former Chief Executive Officer Foster Mulumbe.
Bakuwa was expected to appear before the Board of directors disciplinary committee to answer charges of theft and abuse of office on Friday but threw in the towel when he saw that the walls were closing down on him.
Alide, a renowned lawyer and wife to High court Judge Justice Jabbar Alide, will be appearing before the board for the disciplinary hearing today in Blantyre.
After resigning, Bakuwa ‘leaked’ his representations to auditors who were investigating the issues at Malawi Gaming Board implicating cabinet ministers Richard Chimwendo Banda and Micheal Usi and some Members of Parliament (MPs) alleging that they got bribes from MGB to pass the Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Act in Parliament.
It has transpired that Bakuwa is actually the one who took the money on pretext that he was going to pay the cabinet ministers and the MPs.
A few weeks ago we reported how Bakuwa, Alide and Mulumbe operated an a bank account at FDH Bank which was only known to the three where they were transferring hefty amounts from the company’s other bank accounts at National Bank of Malawi (NBM) and NBS Bank and would withdraw and share the money amongst the three.
An analysis of the withdrawals indicate that Bakuwa withdrew the largest amounts totaling K379, 163,251.38 while Mulumbe withdrew K163, 133,140.64 and Alide withdrew K50, 703, 607.98. This was done in a space of two years.
A statement from MGB dated 11 November 2022 acknowledged an extract of Bakuwa’s representations in an internal report that is circulating on social media containing various assertions and allegations.
“Following allegations of impropriety and fraud regarding the operations of an account at FDH Bank (which account was hitherto unknown to the current Chief Executive Officer and the Board), a forensic audit was conducted at the Malawi Gaming Board by the office of the Auditor General. Some senior Members of Staff were sent on leave to pave the way for the investigations”.
“The Auditor General gave all employees concerned (including others) an opportunity to make representations on the matters that were being investigated as well as other matters of alleged financial or administrative impropriety,” reads part of the statement.
“The Director of Finance of the Board, Mr. Henry Bakuwa, provided his representations to the Auditor General both in writing and viva voce. The extract that has been leaked to the media is his written representations before the Auditor General. Following very thorough investigations, the Auditor General submitted his report which highlighted several issues of financial irregularities at the Board, mostly to do with staff benefits and other unjustified personal payments.”
“Of note, the Auditor General’s report did not substantiate any of the allegations contained in the said internal report. There were no irregular payments made to any Minister, politician or public official as alleged therein at all,” reads part of the statement.
“Following the said Audit Report, the Board instituted disciplinary hearings against Mr. Henry Bakuwa to specifically answer allegations bordering on financial matters. The hearing was scheduled for today, Friday 11th November 2022. A few days ago, Mr. Bakuwa tendered his resignation but stated that he would be serving his notice. He also bemoaned the inadequacy of the notice for the hearing. To avoid prejudicing the process, the Board will not comment on the process of the hearing nor the merits of the charges,” reads the statement in part.
“The Board therefore assures all Malawians that there is nothing untoward in the allegations contained in the internal memo. The Audit Report by the Auditor General was impressively thorough and, save for the allegations that are subject to the disciplinary hearing, the Board is confident that all matters of concern were duly dealt with by the Auditor General”.
“The Board further assures Malawians that it will continue on its path of cleaning the institution to ensure sound and prudent use of resources. The Board is not naïve to expect that that path will not be littered with road blocks and mines. We are nonetheless, geared to make the Board one of the most progressive, financially-sound and operationally smart institutions,” reads part of the statement.
