Malawi24 – New evidence has emerged that implicates senior members of the Malawi ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other cabinet ministers who have been working with British nationals to siphon millions of public funds.
Published reports claim that the ministers and elite DPP officials have been intimidating Office of the Director of Public Procurement (ODPP) workers to flout procedures by awarding HTD Limited “procurement deals against all odds”.
One of Malawi’s online papers, Nyasatimes, alleges in a report published today that it has evidence that implicates elite DPP members for ordering ODPP to award HTD Limited which is owned by two British citizens, namely Anawar Mahomed Sidik and Abudul Haris Mahomed Sidik.
“We are under political pressure to favour HTD Limited,” the paper quotes a well-placed but unnamed source at ODPP.
Dr. George Chaponda who also serves as Foreign Affairs ministers is one of the cabinet ministers that the publication has implicated as using President Peter Mutharika as conduit.
It is alleged Chaponda has been intimidating the ODP officials to either award HTD the deals or face the sack because the company’s owners are Mutharika’s closest business allies and that the awarded deals are to directly benefit the president.
HTD, which is the official distributors of Kia Motors in Malawi, has previously been making several donations to the ruling party. It once gave vehicles as gifts to Beatify Malawi (BEAM), a charity owned by the president’s wife, Gertrude Mutharika.
The company has been under investigation before by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) following a dubious payment of about K0.6 biillion (about $1.5m.) by Treasury.
Malawi does not have legal requirements for political parties to publish their respective sponsors or the yardstick on how much can be donated.
