Ex-Malawi diplomat demands inquiry into embassy fraud

Pressure is mounting on government to conduct investigations on the role of officials inside the country into the alleged theft of billions of tax payers’ money at Malawi’s embassy in Kenya.

Malawi Government audit for the year ending 2013, has revealed that billions of kwacha were spent without documentation at the mission.

Former Malawian Envoy to Japan Dr. John Chikago told YFM online that officials in the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance as well as the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) should be investigated.

Dr. Chikago said the standard procedure in government is that embassies are monitored through the monthly returns and cannot have access to more money than what they need.

“Embassies are funded based on approved budget and special funding based on special request to the Treasury. In either case there has to be a return to a Controlling Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” he said.

Dr. Chikago, suggested that there could be a network of officers in Malawi that is responsible for the abuse of funds in the embassies.

“The question to be asked is on how billions of Kwacha were transferred to the Embassy? Having served in the diplomatic corps for 9 years, I cannot imagine how that could happen,” Chikago wondered.

The ex-envoy said the funds were wired to Kenya by the Reserve Bank of Malawi and suggested that the Embassy in Kenya was only a channel.

The controlling Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Isaac Munlo, told the media that the inquiry can help to unearth the circumstances around the alleged abuse of public funds.

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