Lilongwe - A Malawian court on Friday found former education minister Yusuf Mwawa guilty of stealing more than $1 000 (about R6 100) in the first conviction of a senior official under President Bingu wa Mutharika's anti-corruption campaign.
Mwawa, a member of parliament and a former minister under former president Bakili Muluzi, had been accused of stealing $1 360 to fund his wedding party at the up-market Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel last March.
Wa Mutharika and his predecessor Muluzi, who remains a powerful political figure in Malawi, are locked in a bitter political struggle. Both accuse each other of graft.
Lauded by Western donors for his fight against corruption, wa Mutharika sacked Mwawa from his cabinet after the wedding funding row broke out in the media.
Magistrate Mzondi Mvula found Mwawa guilty on four counts of misuse of public office under the Corrupt Practices Act, theft by a public servant, forging official documents and making a false statement in court.
Mwawa had denied the charges, which said he had removed $1 360 from the ministry's special client account.
The first count carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail. Mvula said Mwawa would be sentenced on February 9.
Mwawa's wife, Diana Nkhulembe, an aide to Vice President Cassim Chilumpha, wept in court as the guilty verdict was read.
Mvula refused bail and the former minister was taken by police van to a maximum-security prison in Lilongwe.
Defence lawyer Gift Makhwawa asked the court to take into account that his client is diabetic, which he said was a life-threatening ailment. Mwawa also offered to pay back the $1 360 as part of mitigation.
Wa Mutharika last year sacked Mwawa and replaced him with an opposition Malawi Congress Party MP, Kate Kaunja-Kaluluma. If Mwawa's conviction is upheld, he will lose his seat as an MP.
Boniface Dulani, a political analyst at the University of Malawi, said Mwawa's conviction was a boost to wa Mutharika's anti-corruption crusade.
"It gives fresh impetus to the fight against corruption, which had started to lose steam," he told Reuters.
It did not matter that the former minister had been convicted over a small amount of money.
"What is important is securing a conviction. That in itself is a strong enough signal that the administration is at work to wipe out corruption," Dulani said.