The High Court in Blantyre today failed to deliver its ruling in the Thom Mpinganjira bribery case as the suspect is reportedly ill.
The former FDH Holdings Limited chairperson Mpinganjira did not appear before the court for the ruling which Judge Dorothy DeGabrielle was expected to deliver today.
According to Registrar of the High Court and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, the matter has been adjourned to March 22 this year when the parties will meet virtually for Mpinganjira’s lawyers to provide an update on their client’s ability to appear before court.
Mpinganjira is accused of attempting to bribe five judges of the Constitutional Court who were hearing the Presidential Elections case in 2019.
He is answering charges of offering an advantage to a public officer, attempting to induce public officers to exercise functions of their offices corruptly and attempting to influence public officers.
Mpinganjira allegedly offered K100 million to the judges as he wanted them to rule the elections case in favour of the then president Peter Mutharika.
One of the Judges, Mike Tembo, in his testimony during trial, told the court that Mpinganjira claimed that he was sending the money to the judges through Mutharika’s lawyer Frank Mbeta but the money never reached the judges.
In the elections case, the Constitutional Court nullified the 2019 elections case thus declaring Mutharika’s win in the elections invalid. The ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
