The scandal surrounding Malawi’s politically connected Sterling Timber International has deepened, with an insider alleging that the government settled the company’s large debt to the state-owned Malawi Savings Bank.

What happened to the R54-million paid out for a timber mill that was never built? Malawi’s current finance minister, Goodall Gondwe, helped to facilitate a 1.8-billion Malawi kwacha (R54-million) state loan for a timber processing factory that, three years later, has still not been built.