The K128.7 billion acquisition of the Amaryllis Hotel by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund continues to challenge President Peter Mutharika's anti-corruption agenda. According to the Mail & Guardian, a 294-page Public Accounts Committee report leaked in early April exposes severe governance failures surrounding the late 2025 purchase. The parliamentary inquiry found that the pension fund's decision-making was materially distorted. This led to the approval of the transaction despite earlier rejections and an independent valuation that priced the property at just K47 billion.
The controversy has coincided with a major personnel shake-up within Malawi's financial crime enforcement bodies. Investigative Malawi and the Mail & Guardian report that several senior officials linked to the Financial Intelligence Authority and the Anti-Corruption Bureau were removed or reassigned in early April. Legal analysts and civil society organisations have raised questions about these sudden changes, noting that they occurred as the agencies were actively probing the politically sensitive hotel deal.
Meanwhile, financial authorities are actively tracking the funds associated with the transaction. During recent parliamentary hearings, the Reserve Bank of Malawi disclosed that investigators have successfully traced and frozen K72.6 billion linked to the financial flows of the Amaryllis deal, according to the Mail & Guardian. The fallout from the overpriced purchase has sparked public outrage over the risk to civil servants' pension savings and tested the current administration's pledge to stop state looting.