Retraction of the Leonard Kalonga death story

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Leonard Kalonga

On Friday evening we incorrectly reported Leonard Kalonga, a convicted criminal in the cashgate scandal had passed away.

Malawi24 would like to apologise for publishing the incorrect story.

Kalonga, who served as Assistant Director of Tourism, was convicted soon after pleading guilty in August 2015 for stealing close to K4 billion of public funds.

He is yet to be sentenced and is being remanded at Zomba maximum prison awaiting his sentence.

He once named and implicated Malawi former president Joyce Banda  as cashgate’s big fish, saying the loot was intended to fuel Mrs. Banda’s presidential campaign.

Besides implicating Joyce Banda who he said was pocketing 60 percent of the loot, Kalonga also named former budget director Paul Mphwiyo whose shooting led to the unravelling of Cashgate scandal.

He claimed the former budget director was promoted to the position by President Banda as a token of appreciation for his ‘good work’ in sourcing funds for People’s Party (PP).

Kalonga was then  listed a key witness in a case in which Mr. Mphwiyo is answering K2.4 billion cashgate charges.

He will be  appearing before the court on 6th February 2017 for cross examination from Mphwiyo’s lawyers.

Senzani had also named the former President as a key player in the scandal that saw close to 600 billion disappearing from the public coffer.