Suspended Principal Officer of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF), George Jimu, has told Parliament that the fund was subjected to undue influence from senior government officials, including former Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba, and Director of Legal Services, Chizaso Nyirongo, despite the absence of a legally constituted board.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jimu disclosed that PSPTF officials were repeatedly summoned to high-level meetings and instructed to issue commitment letters for a major transaction, even after the board had been dissolved.
New trustees had not been formally recognized by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
According to documents presented to the committee, a meeting held on March 6, 2024, in Mzuzu, chaired by Zamba, resulted in commitment letters being issued to Yusuf Investments Limited between March 7 and 8, 2024.
Jimu emphasized that, in his role as Principal Officer, he does not possess voting rights on board resolutions, and that contractual agreements are typically signed by the board chairperson and the fund secretary, not himself.
“We had no board, but we were still being called into meetings,” he told the committee.
The revelations have raised serious concerns over the governance of the pension fund and possible irregularities surrounding the transaction.
As part of its inquiry, the PAC has summoned several stakeholders to testify on the controversial K128.7 billion Amaryllis Hotel deal.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Malawi recently announced that it has frozen suspected accounts linked to the transaction. Authorities are now working to recover over K70 billion from the deal, out of the K90 billion reportedly already paid.
