State, Mpinganjira make final submissions

The High Court of Malawi yesterday heard final submissions from the State and defence in a case where business mogul and philanthropist Thomson Mpinganjira is accused of attempting to bribe Constitutional Court judges.

Through his lead lawyer Patrice Nkhono, Mpinganjira told presiding judge Dorothy DeGabrielle that he was charged with offences that do not exist under the law.

The lawyer pleaded with the court to dismiss all six charges against Mpinganjira under the Corrupt Practices Act and subsequently acquit him.

Mpinganjira was charged under the Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly offering an advantage to a public officer, attempting to induce public officers to exercise functions of their offices corruptly and for purportedly attempting to influence public officers by offering K100 million to High Court judge Mike Tembo, a member of the five-judge panel of the High Court of Malawi sitting as a Constitutional Court that nullified the May 21 2019 presidential election and ordered a fresh election.

In the oral submission, Nkhono told the court that the law does not create offences for ‘attempt’.

He said: “So, if you are going to go and charge a person for a criminal offence in court you must point to a law that creates that particular offence and we are saying the Corrupt Practices Act does not create that offence of attempt.”

Nkhono also told the court that there is no provision under Section 24 (2) of the Corrupt Practices Act that creates an offence of ‘offering’; hence, all the charges must be rendered incompetent.

But in his brief oral submission, lead State prosecutor Reyneck Matemba told the court that in charging Mpinganjira they looked at the law.

He stressed that the court must look at the evidence in its totality.

Matemba, who was director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when the Mpinganjira case started, also told the court that the State maintains its position that the business mogul set out to bribe the Constitutional Court judges to influence them, induce them and to decide the elections case in favour of former president Peter Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).

In an interview after the proceedings, Matemba, who is now serving as Solicitor General and Ministry of Justice Principal Secretary, said the State is convinced that it presented a good case before the court.

He said: “As the prosecution, what I would say is we are comfortable with the testimony we presented in court and how we have closed our case through submissions.”

In a separate interview, Nkhono said on their part as the defence team they also “feel very confident” with their defence.

“At the end of the day, we will see how the judge goes about it. But we think we have explained to the court properly what this is about,” he said.

After hearing the submissions of both parties, DeGabrielle said she will communicate to the State and the defence on the date she will deliver her judgement.

She indicated that her judgement would be delivered within two months as she also has other matters on her plate.

Mpinganjira, who was found with a case to answer on April 15 this year, was arrested on January 22 2020 following a formal complaint from Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda to the ACB on November 28 2019 that two of the five judges hearing the presidential election nullification case reported bribery attempts.

Besides Tembo, other judges on the panel were Redson Kapindu, Dingiswayo Madise, Healey Potani and Ivy Kamanga. Potani and Kamanga have since been promoted to the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judges. The State paraded all the five judges among its witnesses. n