Imagine a scenario where employees of the Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board (HESLGB) sit down one day and brainstorm on how to steal the public money that is meant to help needy students access higher education through loans. Their caucus then comes up with an idea to corroborate with owners of private colleges and universities. The latter agree. The scheme is for HESLGB transfer money to the accounts of those conduit schools who, in turn retain a share and submit the rest to the HESLGB officials.
That is how some five employees at the HESLGB namely Emma Tambala, Chimwemwe Kaphagawani, Enos Ganunga, Success Sikwese and the late Chris Chisoni, had been allegedly abusing their offices and ransacking the students loan board at the expense of the needy. The five served as director of loans and grants disbursement, loans and grants disbursement manager, finance and administration manager, communications manager and executive director respectively.
However, good news is that the active Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda is not receiving this sad news while sitting down. Reports indicate that he has commenced legal action against the HESLGB and two universities who were involved in this fraud scheme which has defrauded the board of over K1.5 billion.
The two institutions of higher learning that participated in this filthy scheme are Millennium University and the Africa University of Guidance, Counselling and Youth Development (AUGCYD). I bet you have heard about their existence for the first time.
Others added to the cases are Joyce Parma, businessperson Estere Mpulula and the late Jacqueline Chazema who was vice-chancellor of AUGCYD. The estates of both the late Chris Chisoni and the late Jacqueline Chazama are being sued through their respective representatives.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Frank Namangale has since confirmed that the AG has initiated legal action against the accused in two separate cases.
In the first case, the board accuses Tambala, Kaphagawani, Ganunga, Chisoni and Millennium University of conspiring to defraud the board of K1.2 billion from the 2017-2018 to 2020-2021 loan cycles.
In the other case, Tambala, Kaphagawani, Sikwese, Parma, Mpulula, the late Chazema, the late Chisoni and AUGCYD are being accused of conspiring to swindle the board of K300 million.
According to the AG’s statement of claim in the first case, Tambala (1st defendant), Kaphagawani (2nd defendant), Ganunga (3rd defendant) and the late Chisoni (4th defendant) breached their fiduciary duties towards the board by conspiring with Millennium University (5th defendant) to defraud the money by creating a fictitious list of student beneficiaries.
The statement claims that at various times between 2017 and 2021, the four allegedly signed and processed fraudulent payments to Millennium University purportedly for its students.
The loan transactions reportedly occurred without the board’s recommendation. The AG says even the press statements issued by the board on the approved lists did not include the university’s students as part of the grantees.
According to the statement, particulars of fraud and irregularities include board of directors not approving loans to the university’s students during the 2017-2018 loan cycle, deliberate inflation of tuition fees per semester by the university and creation of fictitious loan beneficiaries.
Others include disbursement of K453 million as fees for 422 students despite that all the 208 applicants from the university were rejected.
They also include a huge number of students that they had accessed the loans from HESLGB and tuition fees amounting to K590 million being disbursed to the university before it was accredited by the National Council for Higher Education.
The board pleads that the defendants unjustly enriched themselves with the money which they, consequently, owe the institution a duty to account for.
Thus, it claims being deprived of K1 258 207 000 which was meant to benefit the needy and deserving students from accessing student loans.
The statement of claim for the second case states that on April 8 2019, Tambala and Kaphagawani, with intent to defraud the board, based on a letter dated April 2 2019 authored by the late Chazema which contained a purported list of AUGCYD students, raised a loose minute requesting a payment of K300 million for the university’s purported tuition fees for 176 students for the 2018/2019 academic year.
The money was paid to the university on the same day the loose minute was raised, but it only reflected in the institution’s account on April 10 2019.
According to the particulars of fraud, after the money was credited into the university’s bank account, Tambala allegedly conspired with Chazema to issue cheques to the defendants amounting to K220 million and the money was withdrawn between April 12 and May 16 2019.
The beneficiaries included Tambala (K75 million), Kaphagawani (K25 million), Sikwese (K10 million), Parma (K57 million), Chazema (K8 million) while Mpulula and Chisoni together got K45 million. The remaining K80 million was reportedly used for the operations of the university.
In the two cases, the board through the AG, is claiming damages from its former employees for breach of fiduciary duties and, in respect of all the defendants, damages for breach of contract and damages for inconvenience and a court order directing all the defendants to account for the K300 million.
In August 2020, Chisoni, Ganunga and Kaphagawani were arrested for alleged abuse of finances at the board. The trio was answering to charges of money-laundering, abuse of office and theft by public servant.
The three were suspected to have duped the board K5.1 million in claimed subsistence allowances and fuel refunds for a meeting that never took place but funds were withdrawn from the board’s account.
However, in October 2021 the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court removed Chisoni from the charge sheet following his death in September 2021.
