Just countable days after court smiled on philanthropist Triephornia Mpinganjira in a case in which she sued social media influencer, Ten May, Mpinganjira has left court smiling again. This time the court has effectively muzzled the nozzles of tax collector, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).
In an injunction issued that Malawi24 has seen, on 18 December this year the Magistrates Court in Lilongwe stopped MRA from probing and searching Mrs Mpinganjira whom it suspects of tax evasion. According to the court document, the MRA or its agents are not allowed to probe Triephornia on the matter which also concerns her car hire business of Diplomats.
A source privy to the issue has confided in us that Triephornia Mpinganjira, who is also engaged in philanthropy activities, is being suspected of evading taxes.
“She has been involved in businesses that do not declare to the MRA, that includes her car hire business. For Diplomats, it is also feared that the cars entered into the country without following procedures,” the source said.
The source further reported that investigations were concluded on the side of MRA and they were to move to the final phase of doing physical verification of the cars before impounding them but were served an urgent injunction.
Malawi24 understands that Mpinganjira has also applied to the court to completely dismiss the search warrant. The injunction is only a relief while she awaits ruling on the case.
The source we spoke to expressed surprise that Mpinganjira was seeking to have the whole search warrant dismissed.
“Usually when people have nothing to hide, they allow MRA to do its investigations, including physical verification, so they are exonerated. But using the courts like this only shows that there’s a smoking gun,” said the source.
Mpinganjira is the wife of former business captain Thom who was convicted for bribery. Currently, he is on bail waiting the outcome of an appeal he made to quash his conviction.
