Africa-Press – Malawi. The country’s Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda has acknowledged receipt of an investigative report from the Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board ( HESLGB) which claims that K1.1 billion was looted through ghost beneficiaries from unaccredited higher learning institutions between 2017 and 2020.
Nyirenda confirmed of having received the investigative report on the matter on Monday October 17,2022 adding that his office is currently working on recovering the said amount from those that benefited from the arrangement.
The AG further disclosed he has directed the office of Director of Public Prosecution(DPP) to begin legal action against those allegedly involved. HESLGB Board Chair, Henry Chingaipe also confirmed of submitting the investigative report documents to the Attorney General and Office of President and Cabinet (OPC).
” Yes, after our investigation on the matter, we released a report which we sent to OPC and the AG’s office, ” said Chingaipe.
It is alleged that, between 2019 and 2020, the loans board gave out K1.3 billion in student loans and out of this K1.1 billion was disbursed dubiously, with K590 million to students at Millennium university which is not accredited by Malawi’s National Council for Higher Education.
This was against the rules as Section 24(a) of the HESLGB Act of 2015 which directs that students registered at an unaccredited university are not eligible for loans from the board.
Apart from giving out the loans illegally, the loans board also allegedly inflated the fees as it gave out K890,000 per student per semester at the same higher learning institution.
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