Malawian tycoon Thomson Mpinganjira bags nine-year sentence in election bribery case

Malawi’s High Court has served banking tycoon Thomson “Thom” Mpinganjira a nine-year jail term for attempting to bribe five constitutional court judges who were hearing a case into the 2019 presidential election, Anadolu Agency reported.

Judge Dorothy DeGabriele, who handed down the judgment, noted that the tycoon had committed a serious felony and was wrong for attempting to use his fortune to pervert justice.

“Under these circumstances, the offenses committed were aggravated and this court will not impose a non-custodial sentence,” DeGabriele said.

Last month, the court in Blantyre convicted the businessman of attempting to bribe judges who were hearing a case related to the country’s 2019 presidential election.

During the trial, the multimillionaire pleaded not guilty to six bribery-related charges that accused him of attempting to bribe a panel of five Constitutional Court judges, prompting the government to parade witnesses who the court found to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mpinganjira was guilty.

Mpinganjira is reputed to be Malawi’s wealthiest man.

In 2008, he founded FDH Bank Limited, a Malawian commercial bank that is a subsidiary of FDH Financial Holdings. He began developing FDH Group, starting with First Discount House Limited, in April 2002.

The financial service group offers products, including loans, transaction accounts, savings, investments and debit cards.

Mpinganjira served as group CEO of FDH Financial Holdings until September 2020. It has grown its assets to a MWK235-billion ($289.3 million) valuation as of December 2020.

In 2020, he handed over the business to his 37-year-old son, William. The latter was ranked among the 50 Most Reputable Bank CEOs in Africa by Reputational Poll International.