By Suleman Chitera
Attorney General Frank Mbeta has distanced himself from the controversial K128.75 billion acquisition of the Amaryllis Hotel, shifting responsibility to trustees of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF) for engaging an unqualified firm to carry out the property valuation.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mbeta said the trustees were best placed to answer for the decision to hire EMJ Advisory Public Accountants, which has since admitted it is not a registered property valuer.
Mbeta maintained that his involvement was limited and based strictly on the information available to him at the time, including a complaint lodged by the Malawi Law Society. He stressed that he did not have full facts when the transaction was being processed.
The PAC is currently probing the circumstances surrounding the high-value purchase of the Blantyre-based hotel, a deal that has triggered widespread scrutiny over governance and accountability within the pension fund.
He accused the trustees of failing to conduct adequate due diligence, a lapse that has now become central to the ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has already intervened by quarantining K70 billion linked to the transaction, effectively freezing the funds amid mounting concerns over the handling of the deal.
Despite the controversy, Mbeta told the committee that the information before him does not point to corruption or collusion. However, he raised questions over the legality of the central bank’s actions, querying whether RBM obtained a court order before freezing the funds.
He added that a definitive legal opinion could only be formed once all relevant facts surrounding the transaction are fully established.
The investigation continues as lawmakers push for accountability in one of the most contentious public fund transactions in recent years.
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