MP Peter Dimba bemoans removal of Jean Piriminta as FIA Director General for freezing proceeds of sale of Amaryllis Hotel

*  It would appear that with every Administration, there quickly forms a critical mass of wickedness and crookedness around well-meaning Presidents

* The cartel is what runs the State machinery and issues powerful instructions that the President oftentimes fails to reverse

By Duncan Mlanjira

Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Phirilanjuzi, Peter Dimba, of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) as spokesperson on finance, has bemoaned the removal of Dr. Jean Piriminta as Director General for Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) for her involvement in the controversial sale of Amaryllis Hotel when FIA froze proceeds of sale of the transaction.

According to a statement issued today, March 3 by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which reopened investigations into suspected corruption-related to the purchase of the Amaryliss Hotel, the FIA froze K38.5 billion, which the ACB has also enhanced its restriction notice on the same amount held by owners of the hotel, Yusuf Investments Limited (YIL).

The ACB has also frozen a further  K38 billion, which represents the outstanding balance of the hotel’s purchase price in order to prevent further transactions while the investigations are ongoing.

The ACB reports that it presented the update on these measures on March 19 to Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is investigating circumstances sorrounding the controversial purchase of the hotel using public service pension funds without conducting due diligence.

Further to the update for PAC’s scrutiny, the ACB reports that additional progress in the investigations discovers that the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF) paid YIL K90.125 billion as part payment for the purchase of the hotel, and between January 27 and March 6, a total of K4.497 billion was withdrawn in cash from YIL account at the National Bank of Malawi.

“These large cash withdrawals have raised suspicions of money laundering and corruption which the ACB is actively probing,” says the ACB, while indicating that it is tracing the money trail and profiling public officials and other individuals suspected of having corruptly benefited from the hotel’s sale transaction.

Its investigation involves collaboration with Malawi Police Service’s Fiscal & Fraud Section and the FIA, whose Director General, Piriminta has been relieved of her post and the government has since been seconded to the office of Director of Public Prosecutions — thus MP Dimba’s assertion that “her only crime apparently is the freezing of Amaryllis theft proceeds in conjunction with the RBM”.

The RBM, as Registrar of Financial Institutions, corroborated that it issued the restriction notice on the funds from the sale of the hotel when its Governor George Partridge appeared before the PAC hearing last month.

According to revelations from the inquiry, whose red flags were first raised Malawi-Law-Society in November, the speed at which the purchase transaction was done that raised deep suspicions took place after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took over the government.

MP Dimba observes that the case on Piriminta “is a familiar script” to him and others, “who paid a heavy price and still bear the marks and scars for remonstrating against the arrest and subsequent removal of Martha Chizuma” as Director General of the ACB during his own MCP-led government.

“And it would appear that with every Administration, there quickly forms a critical mass of wickedness and crookedness around well-meaning Presidents,” says Dimba. “The cartel is what runs the State machinery and issues powerful instructions that the President oftentimes fails to reverse — amangomva zothaitha (he gets to realise the full extent after damage has been done)”.

Dimba is alluding to what former President Lazarus Chakwera fell prey to when he was forced to reverse a decision when the MCP-government machinery had Chizuma arrested under very suspicious circumstances.

“They even fabricate fake intelligence reports against people that they want to victimise,” maintains Dimba. “Doing right becomes wrong and doing wrong becomes right. The cartel weaponizes the system to crush any resistance, silence critics, reward crookedness while punishing integrity, professionalism and patriotism.

“The wicked cartel permeates into all the critical sectors and structures that matter. It completely usurps the Presidency and nonchalantly looks away as Malawians cry out loudly for justice.”

In reference to Piriminta, Dimba says country “is once again under siege by the cartel and it is crucial that all patriotic gatekeepers in the Executive, Judiciary, Parliament, civil society and the general citizenry stand guard — we can’t keep on moving in circles”.

In response to Dimba’s statement on Facebook, Lemon Chipwatali applauded the legislator, saying he “rose above party politics to demonstrate against the arrest of Chizuma. That was pure class, especially that you were part of the ruling government.

Rex Gama added that “it increasingly appears that there is a hidden network that sustains corruption regardless of which political party is in power”, adding that if corruption is to be seriously fought in Malawi, “the focus must go beyond leadership changes and address these entrenched systems”.

“Until such structures are dismantled, lasting progress will remain difficult to achieve,” he said, while Thandie wa Pulimuheya looked back during the MCP administration, describing its stand corruption as “a twisted joke”.

“Some like you [Dimba] joined it in good faith, believing it was the right thing for the nation, yet at the same time others used the exact fight to pretend they were fighting corruption — yet all they wanted was to delete those they didn’t want, and promote those they wanted, including themselves.

“Even those who claim to fight corruption, are corrupt — it’s a lost cause,” bemoaned Pulimuheya, with Denis Kachikho, joining in to say: “It’s sad that each and every government that is ushered into power becomes very weak in fighting against corruption.”

Kondwani Chimadza wondered that if Piriminta has allegedly been removed for freezing the YIL accounts, what will happen to RBM Governor Partridge, “considering that the accounts in question were frozen through a coordinated effort between the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Reserve Bank of Malawi”.