This article was originally published on Malawi24 ">Malawi24, Malawi's #1 independent news platform. CCTV footage allegedly puts former MERA boss at centre of operation that moved billions in cash from Amaryllis proceeds President Peter Mutharika’s former State House aide and former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Chief Executive Officer Collins Magalasi has been arrested again as investigators follow an explosive cash trail that allegedly connects people within State […] Read the full
President Peter Mutharika’s former State House aide and former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Chief Executive Officer Collins Magalasi has been arrested again as investigators follow an explosive cash trail that allegedly connects people within State House to billions withdrawn from proceeds of the controversial K128.7 billion Amaryllis Hotel deal.
National Police spokesperson Gladys Chiwayula has confirmed Magalasi’s arrest.
His arrest potentially opens another chapter in the Amaryllis scandal after reports earlier this year placed Magalasi at the centre of an extraordinary operation in which billions of kwacha were collected in hard cash from National Bank of Malawi (NBM).
At the heart of the allegations is CCTV footage reportedly showing Charles Gibson Nankhuni withdrawing K1.5 billion in cash on January 23, 2026 and another K1.5 billion days later. It has been reported that Nankhuni is a pseudonym.
Magalasi allegedly oversaw the operation.
It was reported in April that the footage showed a convoy of unmarked vehicles allegedly from State House and more than 15 armed police officers who were taking instructions from Magalasi as the money was collected from NBM’s Capital City Service Centre.
Reports put the wider cash withdrawals from proceeds of the Amaryllis transaction at about K5 billion. “And [Malawi Police] sat on it, then came the CCTV footage. It reportedly shows State House officials withdrawing K1.5 billion on two separate days in January 2026, with the operation overseen by Collins Magalasi,” blogger Wongie tweeted last week when it emerged that another energy operator, NOCMA, had lost K0.7 billion in fraud.
Perhaps one of the most striking details surrounding the transactions is that NBM allegedly alerted the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) before the first K1.5 billion was handed over. Banks in Malawi have previously been accused of being conduits for fraudulent transactions since the Cashgate scandal. The Amaryllis Hotel scandal further exposed the banking sector. However, National Bank came clean, saying it warned FIA before the transaction was executed.
It was reported then that Nankhuni initially arrived at NBM’s Capital City Service Centre on January 22 intending to withdraw K1.5 billion. Bank officials reportedly told him the amount was too large to provide immediately and asked him to return the following day.
That gave the bank time to verify the cheque with the account holder. Amaryllis Hotel owner Shiraz Yusuf reportedly confirmed that the cheque had been issued to Nankhuni. But NBM allegedly went a step further. The bank reportedly contacted FIA about the impending huge transaction before Nankhuni returned.
FIA gave the bank no instruction to stop the payment. Twenty-four hours later, the K1.5 billion reportedly left the bank in cash as NBM could not simply refuse to honour a legitimate customer’s cheque without intervention from the appropriate authorities.
Another K1.5 billion was subsequently withdrawn, bringing the two huge cash collections linked to Nankhuni to K3 billion.
Those were not the only transactions. It was reported that documents it had seen showed about 25 withdrawals from Yusuf Investments Limited’s National Bank account between January 27 and March 6, 2026.
They included hundreds of millions of kwacha being withdrawn through several individuals.
Among the largest transactions reported were K500 million withdrawn by Charles Gibson Nankhuni on January 27; K400 million withdrawn by Mark Kaliati on March 6; K265 million withdrawn by Kaliati on February 17; and K250 million withdrawn by Rashird Alli on February 19.
Other withdrawals ranged from K10 million to hundreds of millions of kwacha. Some of the money was subsequently reported as being deposited into accounts belonging to businesses and organisations.
The withdrawals reportedly continued until early March when Parliament’s investigation into the Amaryllis Hotel sale gathered momentum and transactions on the account were suspended.
The revelations raised a bigger question: where was FIA while billions were moving in cash?
The media reported that FIA had received Large Currency Transaction Reports and Suspicious Transaction Reports concerning the transactions but failed to intervene. A governance expert quoted by the publication argued that FIA had received information from the bank at least 24 hours before some of the huge withdrawals but failed to act.
The allegations have not been judicially established.
As public and parliamentary pressure over the transactions intensified, then FIA Director General Jean Phillipo Piriminta reportedly requested CCTV footage from National Bank.
What the cameras allegedly revealed dramatically changed the story. The footage showed people connected to State House, the armed police presence and Magalasi allegedly overseeing the collection of the money.
When Piriminta shared the footage with FIA officers and some officials from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the footage subsequently leaked. Soon afterwards, Piriminta was removed from FIA, together with the authority’s Director of Legal Affairs Collins Chitsime, rendering FIA toothless to bite as CCTV footage implicated powerful and politically connected people, including individuals from State House and Cabinet.
Collins Magalasi on the campaign trail for Peter Mutharika and the DPP ahead of the party’s return to power in 2025.
Her removal subsequently attracted scrutiny, including from Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee. Piriminta was reportedly reassigned to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as Director of Financial Crimes.
Much as there is no established evidence that her removal was intended to suppress the Amaryllis investigation or protect anybody shown in the footage, the timing inevitably raised questions about whether Malawi’s financial intelligence machinery had been compromised just as investigators were following one of the biggest money trails in the country.
The cash trail originated from the Civil Servants Pensions Trust’s acquisition of Amaryllis Hotel. The hotel was controversially acquired for about K128 billion after Yusuf Investments had reportedly initially sought approximately K132 billion. This is despite the valuers warning that the hotel was a bad investment.
According to the April investigation, an initial K90 billion payment was made through the Reserve Bank of Malawi. National Bank subsequently recovered approximately K26 billion that Yusuf Investments owed it before the balance was made available to the company.
Yusuf Investments reportedly began settling debts owed to business partners, with some creditors allegedly preferring payment in cash.
It was against this background that the series of huge cheque withdrawals began. The hotel owner reportedly issued the cheques and confirmed their authenticity when contacted by the bank.
But investigators now face the more politically explosive question of why Magalasi and people allegedly connected to State House appear in accounts surrounding some of the biggest cash collections.
Magalasi is no stranger to Malawi President Peter Mutharika’s inner circle. During Mutharika’s first administration, he served at State House as Executive Assistant and Chief Economic Adviser to the President.
He later left State House to become MERA Chief Executive Officer in 2017. Magalasi has also remained closely associated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and was reported to have been among the architects of the party’s manifesto ahead of its return to power in 2025.
That history makes his alleged role in the January withdrawals particularly significant.
His arrest now potentially gives investigators a direct route into establishing who organised the operation, why such enormous amounts were required in cash, where the money went after leaving the bank and whether anyone in government or State House instructed or benefited from the transactions.
Police have not established publicly that State House or the DPP authorised or benefited from the withdrawals. The sale of Amaryllis started during the administration of Lazarus Chakwera, with senior officials such as Colleen Zamba being implicated. However, the deal was finalised during Mutharika’s administration.
Magalasi has been here before.
He was arrested in July 2020 alongside other MERA officials and subsequently faced allegations including fraud, abuse of office and money laundering arising from transactions at the energy regulator. A Lilongwe-based female close associate and socialite was arrested in connection with the MERA scandal.
One case involved allegations that K10.5 million belonging to MERA was diverted towards accommodation for DPP delegates attending the party’s 2018 convention. Prosecutors alleged the money had ostensibly been obtained for MERA sensitisation activities but was instead used to accommodate party officials.
In 2023, a court found Magalasi had a case to answer on fraud and abuse-of-office charges relating to the alleged diversion. A separate case involved a procurement contract awarded to Vink Enterprise for MERA materials including strategic-plan booklets, branded cloth and T-shirts.
Magalasi denied wrongdoing in the cases against him.
His appointment as MERA chief executive had itself previously come under scrutiny, with an Ombudsman investigation concluding that his recruitment was irregular because the position had not been advertised and competitively filled.
Magalasi’s latest arrest could therefore prove more consequential than simply adding another prominent name to the list of people caught up in the Amaryllis scandal.
The CCTV allegations potentially connect the movement of money to people operating within or around the country’s most powerful political office. This is because the CCTV showing who collected or supervised the collection of cash is only one part of the puzzle.
Investigators still have to establish who ordered the withdrawals, why billions were required in physical cash, where the money went after leaving National Bank and who ultimately benefited.
They must also establish why FIA allegedly failed to intervene despite reportedly receiving advance notification of the huge transactions and subsequent financial intelligence reports.
Magalasi may now be in police custody, but the bigger Amaryllis question remains unanswered: Where did the billions ultimately go?
Follow the story
