Mpinganjira goes for plea bargain: Court revokes bail

Business tycoon Thom Mpinganjira has asked the High Court in Blantyre  for a plea bargaining arrangement  to charges the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) levelled against him in a case in which he is being accused of attempting to bribe Constitutional Court judges.

His lawyer Patrice Nkhono made the application on Thursday afternoon before the court continues to hear the case.

Plea-bargaining is a process which occurs in relation to criminal offences whereby the accused agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge thus dispensing with the need to go through the whole trial process to prove their guilt.

Mpinganjira is answering charges related to attempting to induce High Court judges Mike Tembo and Healey Potani to exercise their functions corruptly by offering them K100 million.

He is also being accused of attempting to induce a public officer to abuse his office by attempting to persuade Tembo and Potani to accept the bribe and rule the election case in favour of former president Peter Mutharika and the Malawi Electoral Commission who were the respondents in the case.

The business magnet pleaded not guilty to all charges.

But with the plea bargaining, Mpinganjira is set to accept some offences and therefore not waste court’s time. This may work in his favour to get leniency.

Meamwhile,  the High Court Judge Dorothy Degabrielle  has directed that Mpinganjira be remanded to Chichiri Prison following  the pplication for a plea bargaining .

Court  has adjourned the matter to  next week.