LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawians have taken up on various social media platforms to express dismay over the release on police bail of five women arrested over the weekend at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe for money laundering before investigations have been done.
Fiscal Police at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe arrested the five women for money laundering after being found in possession of 338 ATM cards just after their arrival on a flight from Dubai.
Malawi Police headquarters spokesperson Peter Kalaya said the suspects are Sellina Mkandawire 39, Fatima Dziko 35, Diness Mphande 66, Hanifa Osman 33 and Angella Mphande 36.
According to Kalaya, the cards are from different banks in the country and that the woman were being used to launder the money.
But they were released just hours after their arrest amid speculation that they were highly connected to powerful and influential people in the country.
This publication understands that one of the suspects is connected to Tonse Alliance government cabinet minister whom we are yet to expose in due course.
Some Malawians suggest that the suspects could have have been released after after investigating the powerful and influential Asian businessmen they were working for and the banks they were dealing with.
Even Forum for National Development (FND) has questioned Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) silent on five arrested women for money laundering, forex externalization.
But in a press statement made available to The Maravi Post on Monday, June 12, 2023 signed by FND National Coordinator Fryson Chodzi wondered as to why RBM is quite on the matter.
“Sadly, according to the media reports, it is further alleged that staff at a Reserve Bank are also involved which seriously puts the integrity of the financial institutions in Malawi.
“The silence on the part of RBM as a regulator is mind baffling and clearly shows of an institution that is compromised in its work,” reads part of the statement.
Chodzi adds, ” These kind of cases have a serious repercussion on the entire economy of Malawi, as the country is signatory to international laws on money laundering and combating the financial terrorism that makes it obligated to curb such kind of actions.
“Failure to deal with this matter will compel us to report to international institutions as money laundering is a serious crime worldwide and slowly Malawi is degenerating into a money laundering hub, as we raised these matters with your office before”.
