Mpinganjira withdraws plea bargain

Business mogul Thomson Mpinganjira has withdrawn his plea bargain  in a case he is accused of trying to bribe judges during the presidential elections case.

Mpinganjira’s lawyer, Patrice Nkhono confirmed that he has received instructions to withdraw the plea bargain application.

Nkhono said the case which the graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) presented to the court is different from what it is prosecuting.

He said the charges against Mpinganjira are not speaking to the evidence presented in court hence no need for a plea bargain.

But ACB director general Reyneck Matemba said it is not surprising that Mpinganjira has applied to withdraw the plea bargain.

He said ACB has always been against the plea bargain.

Nkhono applied to the court to enter into a plea bargain to ‘save time and resources’ and presiding  High Court judge Dorothy Degabrielle accepted the request for plea bargain.

Plea bargain is an arrangement between prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a more lenient sentence or an arrangement to drop other charges in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge instead of not guilty to a greater charge.