Mpinganjira pleads ‘not guilty’ in judges bribery allegations: Case adjourns amid preliminary objections
Businessperson Thom Mpinganjira has pleaded not guilty to corruption charge alleging he was attempted to bribe Constitution Court judges to rule in favour of former president Peter Mutharika in the presidential election case.
Mpinganjira appeared before High Court judge Dorothy DeGabrielle for plea in Blantyre .
He took the plea of ‘not guilty’ after Blantyre senior resident magistrate Simeon Mdeza committed the matter to High Court.
The High Court has since adjourned the case to August 19 after preliminary objections from Mpinganjira’s defence team led by Patrice Nkhono, assisted by Fostino Maere and Tamanda Chokhotho.
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Reyneck Matemba said in court, the defence applied that the case be shifted from the High Court to the lower court, the resident magistrate’s court.
“We have opposed this. We have the reasons why we wanted this case to be heard in the High Court. The magistrate’s court already committed this case to the upper court,” he said.
Matemba said his office and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have the Constitutional powers to decide where a case can be heard.
The defence lawyers argue that the High Court is the same as the Constitutional Court as the High Court judges sit in the Constitutional Court therefore Mpinganjira would not get a fair trial.
ACB director who is leading the prosecution also dismissed defence argument that one of their lawyers Chokhotho was not available as he was tied with another matter, saying that the defendant has three lawyers and two were available.
In January this year, ACB arrested Mpinganjira after Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda complained to the bureau that a business person and a public servant wanted to bribe the five judges who presided over the 2019 presidential election case.
The banker, who is currently on bail, is answering charges related to attempting to induce High Court judges Mike Tembo and Healey Potani to exercise their functions corruptly by offering 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.
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Thom Mpinganjira, Chuma ndichake Koma Malawians wants justice starting with achuma to the poor.The judges involved were high court judges not migistrate judges,or mwina mukufuna kukanyema makobidi Ku lower khoti,mutazindikira Kut Ku high court kulibe zaziphuphu.Musova,my judgement is that Thom Mpinganjira is guilty of trying to bribe high court judges to rule in favour of DPP and Peter Munthalika.Waiting for the truth.
Kenaka bwana tom mpinganjira apereka chiphuphu kwa ma judge a hayi khoti. [….paja nzeru zake nzochepa…..]
Nsanje basi ndi kaduka . Mtsiyeni ameneyo mlandu palibepo apa
Oweruza ma judge
Mboni ma judge.
Mphaka sangawine mulandu ku bwalo.la makoswe.
Mulandu wavunda uwu baba. Ndende kudzadza zikhwaya. Mukanakhala ena mukanapanga donate ma bulangete ndi rehabilitation ndende zonse mukafikire pa bwino. Palibe zopasidwa bail ya midnight .
Please don’t comment shit you haters. Poor people always against rich people. Muzikasisa matumba ku wenela bus deport apumbwa osauka inu. Poverty makes someone to come t shit like the foolish calling himself Master.Mfana umphawi ukuzunza sunati komanso ukulemba ngati corona yakunjata
Well he will soon be a prisoner. The loss of DPP at the ballot was the worst scenario for him and no wonder he joined hands with Mulli in trying to ensure that DPP continues plundering this country. God had a different idea.
Kape iwe Bwape,womvala Pant wobooka,kusekelera zopusazi
Cadet uliratu iwe zangoyambikatu, uphwisa chiphwisi chachi lomwetu iwe, that thug must be locked honestly, he is a bandit posing as if he earned that Bank the right way he stole our taxes
Can you them be more wise bwana Bwape? I quote Master insinuating that rich man Thom Mpinganjira wanted to use his riches to rob poor people of justice. Is this what you r disputing?
iwenso ndi galu eti
A Thom, can you not look for better lawyers? Learn from experience. Don’t say you were not warned. Several warnings and precedence are there for one to see.
What mechanisms will you put in place to prevent the all powerful concourt from determining the judgment. Those five are very powerful and might influence whoever judge assigned to the case.
Mechanism is the right to appeal to the Supreme Court should he lose. This case will travel very slowly through the justice system.
Lock this thug, such prominent guys who feel are bigger than life must learn some lessons here that dont play with poor people in the name of robbing them justice at the expense of political mercenaries
Ndinu Achitsilu