BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Anti-Corruption Bureau, through the Financial Intelligence Authority, has frozen approximately K38.5 billion from accounts belonging to Yusuf Investments Limited, the owners of Amaryllis Hotel, as part of reopened investigations into the controversial K128 billion purchase of the property by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund.
In a letter to Public Accounts Committee chairperson Steve Malondera dated March 19 2026, which Nation Online has seen, ACB acting director general Gabriel Chembezi disclosed that the Financial Intelligence Authority acted swiftly to freeze the funds after the bureau issued a restriction notice on March 14.
“FIA responded that it had already started working on the same prior to receiving our request. FIA has since frozen funds amounting to approximately K38,509,208,689.67 from accounts belonging to Yusuf Investments Limited/Amaryllis Hotel,” reads part of the letter.
The development comes barely a week after the ACB appeared before PAC where MPs expressed concern over what they viewed as delays in acting on information about possible irregularities in the transaction.
Chembezi told PAC that the bureau has teamed up with the Fiscal and Fraud Section of the Malawi Police Service and reopened investigations effective March 16 2026, covering the hotel acquisition process from 2023.
The ACB’s disclosure comes after Reserve Bank of Malawi governor George Partridge yesterday told PAC that the central bank had traced about K72.6 billion connected to the deal and had since frozen bank accounts.
Malondera earlier said that the committee had initially withheld public comment to allow recovery efforts to progress without disruption.
The committee is expected to summon Attorney General (AG) Frank Mbeta after he failed to show up on Wednesday evening, March 18, 2026.