The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has given back to businessman Zameer Karim the K145 million believed to have been stolen from government.
The businessman donated the money to the ruling party after getting payment for a K2.7 billion food rations deal.
DPP promised to give the money back to Karim of Pioneer Investment saying the businessman was being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The bureau’s Director General Reyneck Matemba told the local media that the ruling party returned the money to Karim.
He however added that the bureau froze Karim’s account shortly after the money was deposited into his account.
According to Matemba, the money will remain inaccessible to Karim until the food rations case is concluded.
“I can confirm that the ACB, through the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), froze Mr Zameer Karim’s bank account immediately after the K145 million was deposited into his bank account,” said Matemba.
Karim is yet to be arrested over the issue.
An ACB investigation report showed that Karim, after receiving 2.7 billion for supplying rations to Malawi Police and defrauding government of K466 million, sent K145 million to a DPP account whose sole signatory is Mutharika. The president later withdrew K65 million from the account.
But the ACB cleared Mutharika saying he did not personally benefit from the money.
Moving forward, release Manace