Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court on Friday fined Uchenna Ethelbert Ogbonna aged 36 for attempting to externalise forex.
The Nigerian man was fined K600,000 for two counts of being found with foreign currency and attempting to externalise it.
State Prosecutor Alick Lamulani of Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) police told the court that on 28th December the Nigerian was stopped as he was about to board an Ethiopian Airways plane to Nigeria.
Upon searching him, he was found with US$1780 (K1,335, 000) without supporting documents.
When passing the judgement, Senior Resident Marriage Chulu said he agreed with the state prosecutor that cases of money externalisation are organised ones hence stiff punishments to deter others.
He then ordered the convict to pay a fine of K450,000 or in default 9 months in prison for the offence of attempt to transfer foreign currency out of Malawi without a permit contrary to Exchange Control Act and K150,000 or in default 6 months for being found in possession of foreign currency in Malawi without a permit.
The foreign currency has since been forfeited to Malawi Government.
Can I request the Malawi Customs and Immigration to please post the rules regarding “externalization” of forex? This is un-fair. We are foreigners working here, and when we arrive at our destination we require money for taxi or hotel etc. Is it all a one-sided affair ie. only forex money (USD, GBP, EUR) coming into the country, but no allowed to take money out? CAN YOU PLEASE PUBLISH THE RULES and REGULATIONS SOMEWHERE? This is akin to harassment of international passengers and stinks of corruption. What kind of nonsense is this?
He was tryed to kill south african educations