MRA used dirty trickery, borrowing to sugar-coat revenues – Finance Minister confirms

Malawi’s Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga has confirmed today the widespread reports that the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) borrowed money from banks to balance up the revenue figures.

These allegations were first publicly made by Member of Parliament for Balaka South George Mnesa in the National Assembly but MRA denied the allegations then.

Mnesa told parliament in February that he had evidence that MRA borrowed more than K15 billion from commercial banks to spice up revenue collection figures for the government.

However, MRA Commissioner General Lloyd Muhara had issued a statement then dismissing the allegation saying the authority cannot and has never borrowed money from banks for purposes of balancing revenue figures. The Mutharika regime blocked investigations on the issue.

Today, Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga confirmed on MBC TV that the revenue authority bloated its figures by borrowing from banks and claiming it was revenue collected.