Mpinganjira goes for plea bargain: Court revokes bail

October 22, 2020 Osman Faiti -Nyasa Times 38 Comments

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.

Dr Thom Mpinganjira

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.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Follow us in Twitter

38 replies on “Mpinganjira goes for plea bargain: Court revokes bail”

  1. Good move. There is no way u can win a case when your accusers are judges. Guilty or not might as well crack a deal and get a lesser sentence than go toe to toe with these referees. We all know that eve in football it’s pointless to argue with a referee after he has given a red card to you whether you were in the wrong or not. So, bravo mr Mpinganjira. U will see the light of day in a few years.

  2. Colleagues: my worry is not his arrest; but how many times has he done this. i am sure this was not the first time. Justice just been raped through money. This is shameful.

  3. Interesting. This is why Jesus asked them to stone that lady if they have never commited any crime. Nobody I mean nobody did that. Some of you here are equally corrupt. Ever bribed Police Officers, etc.? Polani moto its life time mistake. Things do happen to all of us. Ndatha ine wanu Dodolido

  4. But he did the most shameful thing of a man of his caribre to do.He has all what life needs and yet he wanted us to languish under that rotten corrupt government just for his selfish ends. These are that kind of the die hard cadets. Surely he must pay with minimum linience after all he knew his case was already done based on the evidnce that he knew he would only push in vain. Yes there should be linience for people who have committed crimes koma nanga ma judge akanachita zomwe amafunazo kukanankhala bwanji pa Malawipoo? how many peopl should have died because of the marauding DPP cadets against the people who only were pleading for a just Malawi? Go juges go for it and vinsicate the poor from such selfish people

  7. The chickens have finally come to roost! The DPP gurus went to town accusing the Judges of having been corrupted by Simbi! When Thom was arrested the DPP supporters said the Judges were wrongly accusing him. Now that Thom has decided to enter a plea bargain…meaning he has accepted that something was wrong and he has admitted guilt…we now can easily conclude that the DPP system was corrupt to the CORE! Here was a system that not only was corrupt but was bent on accumulating too much wealth and power for one tribe! DPP regime treated all other Malawians as second class citizens…no non Mulhako would be President of the DPP!! At the moment ALL Malawians are equal but just months ago even a Mulhako maid felt superior to her bosses! Imagine that….just because she belonged to the”ruling tribe!”. Even in offices…ground labourers from Mulhako felt superior to their bosses! Nyekhwe is real. DPP should NEVER rule Malawi again! No wonder chaka chino Mulhako kulibe….no fuel from Escom! Nyekhwe!!

  8. Bastard lelo kuuvomera mlandu? kaseveni basi inu simumadziwa kuti ukuswa lamulo? ife timaesa ndiwe ozindikila tikati kuphuzila ttilakwitsa. Idiot mlomwe

  11. Normally a plea bargain is entered into when there is a clear case to answer but the prosecution can’t easily assemble the requisite ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ evidence to lead to an uncontested conviction or they might want the suspect to ‘cooperate’ by volunteering evidence that may be vital to convict other suspects. I suspect he has volunteered some incriminating evidence on some figures in the past DPP administration in exchange for a lesser charge. Shrewd businessmen indeed!

  12. For the sake of bribery on the very highest level , this case must be exemplary and dealt with in front of a court! We can’t accept that criminal acts like this have little consequences! Justice have to prevail not only on Mr Mpinganjira! The Malawian Citizens have a right to know the full story, if we want to go forward together with the new governments statement to drain the swamp!

  13. Very selfish business guru. In other countries where ethical issues are seen in high regard, all his businesses were gone. He is relying on poor malawians he is try to suffocate. Then I read time and again people praising this man and decorating him as a very shrewd businessman. This man is crooked – period!! Accumulated wealth through dubious means. White colour thieves.

  15. Kwa inu osamva chizungu plea bargain means munthuyi Mpinganjira wavomeleza kuti anachimwadi ndipo poti wavomeleza akupempha kuti amupase chilango chochepa. Judges please don’t fall for this bullshit man knew what he was doing akaseve basi

  18. He did it. No leniency for this one. He tried to kill our democracy and justice system.
    Mpinganjira needs to be made an example of that the state is supreme.

    I recommend maximum sentence to start dealing with this bribe culture madness for once and all.

      1. Mwini muzi no plea bargain deal has been agreed yet he has asked the judge is under no obligation to grant his wish.

  20. Didn’t see that one coming. Surely he did that thinking, the judges will fall for it and if APM had won this case could have collapsed. No wonder he moved away from his business.

  21. Asking for a Plea Bargain is a very good idea. His lawyers have surely given him good advice. No way was he going to win against the available witnesses. It would have been like blowing against thunder.

    1. True, but its sad that he will end up going to prison for trying to help someone to assent into the office of president by corrupt mean. May God forgive him and our nation for the bad things we do always.

    1. Amati fool, osati full. Mukuoneka mukukamba nkhani zoti si za msinkhu wanu. Munathawa sukulu ndiye mudzikamba nawo nkhani zazikulu ngati izi?

  23. Anthu kutengeka Munthu analemera kaleksle chonwe amafuna ndi chani? People should start to be contented with what God has blessed them with.

    1. God blessed him with absolutely nothing. All he had was ill-gotten wealth. For what profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?

        1. Mbiri yake ndi yoti anapereka ziphuphu kwa ma judge ndipo wavomera yekha. Nanunso mwasanduka a Spin Doctor nkhani ya kiliye kiliye dijito kaleyi?
          By the way, where is Jane Ansah in all this? A new case of masterminding vote rigging can be opened. Had she been ethical pa ntchito yake zonsezi sizikanachitika

    2. That is what tribalism can do brother Keen observer. The desire was to keep their man at the state house. They cannot handle patriotism at national level. It’s very sad that money and education cannot guarantee wisdom when it comes to mixing politics and tribalism.

  24. Nyekhwe inanso iyi. A business magnet on remand in prison? He must be regretting what he did when he think about the person he was trying to keep in power who is as free as a bird in a tree. He is cooling himself in an air conditioned house while Thom has bedbugs waiting to feast on his blood tonight.

Comments are closed.