Malawi


32. Possession of Unexplained Property

(1) The Director, the Deputy Director or any officer of the Bureau authorized in writing by the Director may investigate any public officer where there are reasonable grounds to believe that such public officer—

maintains a standard of living above that which is commensurate with his present or past official emoluments or other known sources of income;
is in control or possession of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his present or past official emoluments or other known sources of income; or
is in receipt directly or indirectly of the benefit of any services which he may reasonably be suspected of having received corruptly or in circumstances which amount to an offence under this Act.

(2) Any public officer who, after due investigation carried out under the provisions of subsection (1), is found to—

maintain a standard of living above that which is commensurate with his present or past official emoluments or other known sources of income;
be in control or possession of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his present or past official emoluments or other known sources of income; or
be in receipt directly or indirectly of the benefit of any services which he may reasonably be suspected of having received corruptly or in circumstances which amount to an offence under this Act, shall, unless he gives a reasonable explanation, be charged with having or having had under his control or in his possession pecuniary resources or property reasonably suspected of having been corruptly acquired and, unless he gives a satisfactory explanation to the court as to how else he was able to maintain such a standard of living, or such pecuniary resources or property came under his control or his possession, or he came to enjoy the benefits of such services, he shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) In this section—

“official emoluments” includes a pension, gratuity or other terminal benefits;
“public officer” includes any person who has held office as a public officer on or after 6th July, 1964

34. Penalty

Any person who is guilty of an offence under this Part shall be liable to imprisonment for twelve years.

36B. Value of property

In any proceedings for an offence under this Part, the court may infer that property was obtained or derived as a result of the commission of an offence where there is evidence establishing that the value after the commission of the offence of all the property of the accused exceeds the value of all his property before the commission of the offence, and the court is satisfied that his income from sources unrelated to the offence he is alleged to have committed cannot reasonably account for that increase in value.

37. Penalty additional to other punishment

Where any person is convicted of an offence under Part IV, the court shall, in addition to any other penalty that it may pass under section 34—

order that any money or other pecuniary resources, wealth, property, profit, asset, business interest or other advantage, or the value thereof, as is ascertained by the court to have been acquired through or to be tainted with or otherwise connected with the commission of the offence shall be forfeited to the Government;
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Type: Criminal Illicit Enrichment Laws

Last update on LEARN: 3 март 2022