By Davie Dan Mchinga
Much as we would like to see all the alleged looters during the immediate past administration behind bars, government needs to trade carefully when arresting the suspects.
I know the euphoria that is hovering over country following the arrest of some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) bigwigs on suspicion of committing a myriad of financial crimes.
But hold your euphoria! These arrests will short live. These suspects are likely to be released on bail. As such, prosecution and jailing of these suspects will take time.
I think there is need for government to create an amnesty window (possibly a month) to pave way for all who benefited from the looting to voluntarily return all the money to government.
I think this will help government to recover the stolen money. Unlike the present strategy being used by government, it is very easy for the alleged looters to destroy evidence.
These alleged looters are pretty aware that are next to picked by police for questioning. So, it will be easy for them hide evidence and may later be exonerated from any wrongdoing due to lack of evidence.
Mind you, the looting was so entrenched such that some looters are still in the government system and can be used to destroy or tamper with evidence.
Government should create a special account or designate Reserve Bank of Bank of Malawi to receive the money from the alleged looters.
Look, by coming up with this idea does not mean that I am glorifying fraud or financial looting of any kind. But we can recover more money than just arresting people.
After the elapse of the period, government can start arresting those who did not return the money. It can as well create a special court that will prosecute over all these financial crimes.
If current administration continues on the path it has taken, surely these cases will suffer a natural death just like that of Paul Mphwiyo and others, cashgate!
