Man arrested over fake K2000 notes: Faces seven year jail term

….used the money to pay farm labourers

Malawi Police officers in Nkhotakota district  have arrested Iwell Banda for possessing a fake K2 000 bank notes worth K80 000, Malawi24 has learnt.

Last week this publication published a story of the circulation of a fake K2000 bank note in Malawi with some security features missing on the note.

According to the images that Malawi24 saw then, the fake K2000 lacks the brightness and shiny features on it among other things.

Be warned: a fake K2000 note is in circulation

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The note holographic foil strip which is the shiny vertical line at the far left end is not shiny as the real banknote, the fake banknote also lacks the sparkling live image of fish that deliverers colour changing on the front side which is shiny.

On the fake note, the fish image is faded and cannot shine. The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) adopted the latest security features on the K2000 banknote in order to make it easy for the public to easily identify the genuine banknote and also as a deterrent to those who would want to duplicate the money.

Spokesperson for Khunga Police Station in the district Laban Makalani says Banda is from Ntupi Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kanyenda in the district.

Makalani said Banda was arrested on December 31 2016 following a tip from the general public that he was in possession of fake bank notes.

Banda who appeared before Khunga Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to the charges of importing or purchasing forged notes, which are contrary to Section 366 of the Penal Code levelled against him.

“He is suspected to have obtained the forged notes amounting to K80 000 of the newly introduced K2 000 bank note from unidentified men in Lilongwe.He then started spending the money in his home village, gave some to his friend Boyson Chirwa [34] who in turn gave it to his farm labourers. But farm labourers realised that they had been duped after a trader recognised the notes as fake and refused to sell them his products,” explained Makalani.

He further added that all the notes are having a similar serial number a development that led to the identification of it being fake.

Police have since cautioned the general public to be watchful as some dishonest people may want to dupe them taking advantage that they may not be familiar with the newly introduced K2 000 bank note.

Police have since seized 17 forged K2 000 notes which are to be presented as exhibits before court.

When found guilty, the charge of being found in possession of fake currency attracts a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.