State House has contradicted Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary General Grezeldar Jeffrey over the K145 million deposited in a DPP account to which President Peter Mutharika is the sole signatory.
The DPP account is at the centre of a corruption scandal after it was revealed that a businessman who defrauded government of K466 million deposited K145 million into the account.
Presidential press secretary Mgeme Kalirani said the account is for funds that will go towards construction of a DPP headquarters and Mutharika was made sole signatory in order to safeguard the money.
“The DPP has several other accounts in its name for party operations. However, the account in question was opened in 2015 and it is a DPP headquarters construction project account. The banking transaction in question happened two years later, in 2017.
“President Mutharika is the sole signatory to that account to ensure that funds in that account are used effectively towards the said construction project. The account receives donations for that purpose,” he told the local media.
Kalirani added that the DPP knows all transactions regarding the account and Mutharika does not use the money for personal use.
“All transactions in that account are documented and the party has receipts for them,” Kalirani.
But DPP Secretary General earlier told the local media that she is a signatory for all DPP cheques and does not know about the K145 million. She added that there was no way she could have missed the deposit.
“The transaction took place in April 2016 and I assumed this position in February 2016 so there is no way I could have missed it. This is just a lie by some people who do not wish the party well.
“We have not had such kind of money in our coffers otherwise we would not have been struggling with finances. Even our bank statements do not have that K145 million cheque registered,” said Jeffrey.
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