President Joyce Banda of Malawi.
Several officials have been caught
allegedly with money hidden under their beds and in their cars, reports the
BBC's Raphael Tenthani from Malawi. Last month, top finance ministry
official Paul Mphwiyo, who was seen as an anti-corruption crusader, was shot
and wounded, our reporter says.
Western donors have been urging Ms Banda to tackle corruption.
Malawi is a poor African state,
heavily dependent on financial aid from the European Union (EU) and other
foreign powers.
'High levels of
fraud'
Ms Banda's office said a new cabinet
would be appointed in due course, without elaborating.
She called a crisis meeting of the
cabinet before her office announced that it had been dissolved, our reporter
says.
At a news conference on Wednesday,
Ms Banda said she had appointed a special team, made up of police and
government officials, to do a financial audit across all government
departments.
Our reporter says the shooting of Mr
Mphwiyo opened a can of worms with the media awash with reports of unscrupulous
civil servants conniving with businessmen to fleece the government of million
of dollars through dubious contracts.
Mr Mphwiyo, the budget director in
the finance ministry, was shot as he drove into his residence in the
upmarket Area 43 suburb of the capital, Lilongwe, on 13 September.
The shooting was "attack aimed at silencing him and the government in the fight against high levels of corruption and fraud", Ms Banda's office said at the time.
Four suspects were arrested over the
shooting, our reporter says.
About 10 junior government officials
have been arrested so far for suspected corruption, Reuters News agency
reports.
Courtsey of BBC News
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