Regulations activate K16 billion Confiscation Fund

After years of existing largely on paper, Malawi’s Confiscation Fund has finally acquired the rules governing who can access billions of kwacha seized from criminals, how the money will be spent and who will account for it. The Financial Crimes (Confiscation Fund) Regulations, 2026, gazetted on July 24, 2026, operationalise the fund, which, according to the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), holds about K16 billion recovered from proceeds of crime. The regulations mandate the FIA to receive and assess funding applications before recommending allocations to the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation, who has the final approval.

They also allow compensation of victims where courts have issued compensation orders, require beneficiaries to account for every kwacha spent and empower the FIA to recover misused funds, suspend disbursements and repossess assets where necessary. Commenting on the new framework, anti-money laundering expert Jai Banda said the regulations are intended to ensure that proceeds of crime ultimately benefit the public, but cautioned that recovering illicit wealth remains a far greater challenge than managing it. On transparency, Banda noted that while the regulations establish the fund’s operating framework, they do not prescribe detailed public reporting on allocations, making transparent implementation critical to maintaining public trust.

He said the real test would be whether the money is invested strategically in initiatives that strengthen governance, deter financial crime and deliver measurable public benefits, rather than simply financing routine government expenditure. “It would have helped if the National Planning Commission had been included as a strategic adviser to the fund. The first allocations should support activities that reinforce the objectives of the Financial Crimes Act while contributing to Malawi 2063.

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“Priority should also be given to compensating victims of crime, particularly where courts have already ordered compensation, as this directly addresses the harm caused by financial crimes,” Chibwana said. He said transparency would depend not only on the regulations themselves but also on how the Ministry of Finance and the FIA manage and disclose information about the fund. “They should proactively publish annual reports showing how much money entered the fund, who received allocations, the purposes for which funds were approved, implementation progress and the outcomes achieved. “Public disclosure of this information would reassure citizens that confiscated assets are being managed in the public interest rather than becoming another pool of discretionary government funds from which ordinary Malawians derive little benefit,” he said.

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