A court in Lilongwe on Tuesday found businessperson Mainala Reuben Mwale guilty of stealing K20 million from Government.

The Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe found that Mwale trading as Vhaima General Dealers acquired the sum of MK20, 383, 276 from Malawi Government through the Ministry of Tourism, knowing that the said sum of money represents proceeds of crime.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau had charged him with theft contrary to Section 278 as read with Section 271 of the Penal Code and money laundering contrary to Section 42(1) (c) of the Financial Crimes Act.

He will be sentenced on a date to be communicated by the Court. Meanwhile, he has been remanded at Maula Prison.

In 2013 during President Joyce Banda regime, over K2.4 billion was stolen from government coffers in what is known as Cashgate, where businesspersons and civil servants connived to steal the public funds.

Former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo, former Accountant General David Kandoje, Maxwell Namata are some of the high profile Cashgate suspects.