
By Duncan Mlanjira
Influential businessman and banker, Thomson Mpinganjira, who was re-arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) after he was controversially and erroneously released by Zomba Magistrate Court last week, has been charged with three counts.
The first charge is offering an advantage to a public officer contrary to section 94 (2) of the Corrupt Practices Act as he is suspected of offering K100 million to Justice Mike Tembo for his benefit and benefit of Justices Ivy Kamanga, Redson Kapindu, Healy Potani and Dingiswayo Madise.

Mpinganjira and Mutharika when FDH donated
ICT equipment for community colleges
The five Constitutional Court judges presided over the presidential elections case and the inducements were for the to rule in favour of the respondents Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and President Peter Mutharika.
In the second count is an attempt to induce Justices Mike Tembo and Healy Potani to exercise their function corruptly, accept K100 million for their benefit and other the three other Justices to decide the elections case in favour of the respondents MEC and President Mutharika.
The third is attempting to induce a public officer to abuse his office when Mpinganjira allegedly attempted to induce Justices Mike Tembo and Healy Potani to abuse their offices to accept K100 million.

Mpinganjira being picked by the ACB and the
police
Representing Mpinganjira, lawyer Patrice Nkhondo SC, accompanied by Pangano Bonongwe, asked for bail, saying Mpinganjira has strong ties to Malawi since he runs FDH Financial Holdings Limited, has a family and will always be available for trial.
Mpinganjira, who hails from Dzungu Village, Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo District, is also the board chairperson of ESCOM and sits in several other boards.
The lawyer also argued that although he was temporarily released by the Zomba Magistrate Court after cancellation of his warrant of arrest, he still presented himself to the court and on time.

Matemba, ACB Director General
ACB Director Reyneck Matemba did not object to the bail application but proposed that Mpinganjira surrenders his travel documents, reports to ACB every fortnight and that he should not interfere with their witnesses.
He is also asked to provide surety of two people, who are tied to 3 million non cash bond and that Mpinganjira himself should deposit cash amount of K2 million, lawyer Nkhono did not object to the proposals.
Zomba Magistrate Benny Chitsakamire, who released Mpinganjira unconditionally, is being probed for misconduct by the Judiciary.

The Magistrate in question, Benny
Chitsakamire
Chitsakamire cited sections 18 and 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi and section 96 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code in support of the application filed in by Mpinganjira’s lawyer Frank Mbeta, who is also under scrutiny.
Following this suspicious midnight release of Mpinganjira, the ACB Director Matemba asked the judiciary to do some soul searching amongst themselves on rulings that some of its members have issued in the past.
Matemba had told the Zodiak Broadcasting Station last Thursday that he found it sad and disgusting that someone travelled all the way from Blantyre to Zomba at night and convinced the Magistrate to convene a court sitting to hear Mpinganjira’s case.
The ACB obtained the arrest warrant on Mpinganjira after it received a complaint on 8th December, 2019 alleging that some people were attempting to bribe the five judges and the ACB instituted investigations into the matter.
Matemba said he finds this unfortunate because the country cannot afford to have a Judiciary that is questionable.
He said this was not the first time that the ACB has had challenges with the judiciary, saying some time back a High Court Judge, whom he did not mention, stopped them from investigating a case.
“And yet we have a whole High Court Judge stopping us from investing and prosecuting a person, what is that?” questions Matemba.
“…I am not attacking the judiciary, no. [but] there is a Law under Section 10 of the Corrupt Practices Act that clearly says our mandate is to investigate cases and if we have evidence to prosecute
“These are some of the challenges we face but we don’t talk about them but this time around I will talk about them because this is sad and disgusting.”
Matemba said the idea of an arrest warrant is not to punish somebody but to sure that if a person is released on bail they should be able to have conditions attached to the bail.
“Issues like the availability of the person for trial becomes very vital. We should make sure the person is available not only for reporting for bail but to avail themselves for trial.
“We should be able to know where they are going at any particular point in time.”
An analyst commenting on social media said it is strange that a Magistrate Court can overrule another Magistrate Court’s action, saying it could only have perhaps been done by the High Court.