Fugitive Malawian pastor contests aircraft auction

Fugitive Malawian pastor Shepherd Bushiri bought his new Gulfstream jet in 2015, but payment was delayed a day because the Lanseria-based company in South Africa (SA) selling it did not have a machine to count the more than $1.1m in cash he brought to pay for it. When the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church leader finally took possession of the aircraft, he reportedly instructed his staff and the company to organise ‘a lavish handing over ceremony to celebrate and publicise that this aircraft was delivered to him’. Court papers reveal the seller claims it cannot issue an invoice or bill of sale because Bushiri never provided invoicing details. This has emerged in a legal battle in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in which Bushiri claims the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has failed to prove that the luxury jet was bought with the proceeds of crime. The Sunday Times reports that Bushiri is seeking to halt the imminent auction of the jet after the NPA secured an asset forfeiture order to seize it as part of ongoing criminal investigations. He and his wife Mary fled SA in 2020 after being granted bail on charges including fraud, rape and money laundering.

In his 6 March submissions, Bushiri maintains that the jet was lawfully acquired through a sale agreement with the National Airways Corporation and financed via a US dollar loan from Joint Aviation Resources (JAR). However, there is no record of such a loan. JAR director Sabine Kruger stated in an affidavit: ‘I have no knowledge of such an agreement,’ adding that neither she nor the company had met Bushiri or conducted business with him. ‘The receipts shown to me are false, to my knowledge.’ The Sunday Times notes that police investigator Charles Maritz said an inspection of receipts suggested a prima facie breach of exchange control regulations, which require anyone carrying more than $10 000 in foreign currency to declare it to customs.