FDH Bank Managing Director Noel Mkulichi at Parliament in Lilongwe
* FDH Bank recommended that the hotel should be sold at around K30 billion, based on their 2023 assessment, but the hotel was ultimately sold for K128 billion
* The transaction wasn’t particularly profitable compared to the investment made—FDH Bank Managing Director Noel Mkulichi
By Patience Longwe, MANA & Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has begun investigating the proposed purchase of Amaryllis Hotel by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund and today, it engaged FDH Bank Plc, which was involved in the deal that has attracted intense controversy.
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After its cluster committee today at Parliament in Lilongwe, PAC chairperson Steve Baba Malondera said the inquiry aims to protect public servants’ interest, ensuring they are not affected by poor investment decisions:
“We will meet other stakeholders involved in the deal to seek clarity on the transaction,” he said,” while FDH Bank Managing Director, Noel Mkulichi, said the role of the bank in appearing before the committee was “purely” advisory as one of the key valuers in the deal.
Mkulichi said FDH Bank recommended that the hotel should be sold at around K30 billion, based on their 2023 assessment, but the hotel was ultimately sold for K128 billion.
“The transaction wasn’t particularly profitable compared to the investment made,” Mkulichi admitted.
The proposed sale of Amaryllis has attracted attention of public stakeholders and in its furore path, the National Anti-Corruption Alliance, (NACA) and National Advocasy Platform (NAP), petitioned the PAC to constitute its mandate by investigating the matter fully; https://www.maraviexpress.com/parliament-petitioned-to-summon-pensions-fund-board-its-investment-managers-the-ag-and-rbm-to-testify-under-oath-over-furore-sorrounding-sale-of-amaryliss-hotel/.
At the same time Malawi Law Society (MLS) issued a public statement that demanded that the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF) must immediately be rescind its decision to purchase the hotel as directed by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) as the Registrar of Financial Institutions or face criminal-prosecution-if-it-does-not-comply.
The Parliamentary Committee is constitutionally mandated to safeguard public resources and ensure accountability in the management of public funds and both NACA and NAS asked PAC to also investigate why the Fund’s Board did not comply with prudential regulatory warnings issued on December 23, 2025 and January 6, 2026 by former-rbm-governor-mafuta-mwale-who-raised-profound-financial-regulatory-red-flags-on-the-proposed-sale-at-exorbitant-k148-billion/.
NACA and NAP also recommended “an immediate stay on any further financial disbursement pending a comprehensive forensic audit into valuation methodology, advisory independence and fudiciary compliance”.
