02 August, 2017
The first official arrested under the scandal, Oswald Lupeto, said Joyce Banda was the brain behind the operation, notes Bloomberg while highlighting that the affair caused worldwide aid to Malawi to be suspended.
Former President Joyce Banda is ready to be arrested in light of the warrant of arrest that the Malawi police have issued against her.
Banda left Malawi after losing an election to Peter Mutharika in 2014.
Banda wasn't involved in the scheme and the arrest warrant is a political witch-hunt by the government, her spokesman Andekuche Chanthunya told closely held Zodiak Broadcasting Station on Monday.
"The Malawi Police Service wishes to inform Malawians that its fiscal and fraud section conducted some investigations on the suspected involvement of the former president, Dr. Joyce Banda, in the cashgate cases and unearthed credible evidence", explains the statement.
Banda is now in the United States.
According to Dzonzi, for police to arrest her where she is, police in the country would have to first issue an worldwide warrant of arrest. Malawi temporarily lost much of its foreign aid, and Banda lost her bid for re-election in 2014.
DPP public relations officer Apoche Itimu said they can help in extraditing Banda to Malawi.
Also commenting on the matter Edge Kanyongolo who is Associate Professor at Chancellor College, said that the law allows Banda to either surrender herself to police or wait for them to find her instead.
A former justice minister and attorney general was convicted over "cashgate" and is in jail, along with a number of former high-ranking government officials and business persons.
