The Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) plans to investigate allegations that commercial banks in Malawi bribed members of parliament (MPs) to turn down a Financial Services (Amendment) Bill.
The investigations follows claims made by whistle-blowers and one member of parliament that banks and bankers association of Malawi went on a shopping spree to buy out MPs stop the bill from being table or passed into law.
Dowa West legislator Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi told one of the print press that he was offered a K200 million to abandon the bill.
Through its director general, Reyneck Matemba, ACB says it will be investigating the issue and has invited the MP to help with investigations.
“We have taken note of the allegation made by the honourable Kusamba Dzonzi. Due to the seriousness of the allegation, we will try to get in touch with him to get more information on what this is all about” Matemba has been quoted as saying by the Nation.
Also known as the Interest Capping Bill, the proposed legislature seeks to regulate interest rates by setting up a ceiling of interest rates charged by banks to a maximum of 5 percent above the base lending rate set by the Reserve Bank.
It will also set up a ceiling of total interest charged to customers by banks to not exceed capital borrowed. The proposed law will prohibit any bank and lending institutions from recovering more than 100 percent of the loaned amount.
The bill was not tabled on Thursday as planned because government wanted the House to tackle government business despite Thursday being a private member’s day. It is not clear where the dillydallying was influenced by the BAM handout.
