One of Malawi’s wealthiest men Thomson Mpingajira receives court bail months after being served nine-year sentence

Thomson Mpinganjira, one of Malawi’s wealthiest businessmen and executives, has been granted bail pending an appeal of his conviction for attempting to bribe judges hearing a case related to the country’s 2019 presidential election.

The latest development in the long-running court case comes nearly four months after the leading banking tycoon was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempting to bribe five constitutional court judges who were hearing a case involving the 2019 presidential election.

According to Alexious Nampota, legal counsel for the multimillionaire, the Supreme Court of Appeals granted the bail after observing that the interest of justice would require Mpinganjira to be released on bail pending appeal.

Malawi’s anti-graft agency, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, stated that it will not appeal the bail granted to the banking tycoon by the Supreme Court, with the agency’s lawyer Victor Chiwala stating that the bureau has accepted the bail in accordance with the multimillionaire businessman’s civil rights.

“The court made a determination, we accepted it, and there is nothing we can do about it; we can’t say we agree or disagree with the ruling, and there are some points where the court agreed with us and some points where the court agreed with the other party, but we accept it as it is,” Chiwala said.

According to legal experts close to the recent court action, the court has determined that there is a chance of success in the main appeal, especially given his health and medical conditions, which necessitate his release from prison for appropriate treatment.

Mpinganjira is regarded as Malawi’s wealthiest man. In 2008, after years of exploits and successes in Malawi’s financial services industry, he established FDH Bank Limited, a Malawian commercial bank that is a subsidiary of FDH Financial Holdings.

Through its operations in the country’s financial services industry, the group offers products such as loans, transaction accounts, savings, investments and debit cards, and it has grown its assets to a MWK235-billion ($289.3 million) valuation as of December 2020.

Mpinganjira served as FDH Financial Holdings’ group CEO until September 2020, when he handed over the company to his 38-year-old son, William.

As of press time on Feb. 5, shares in the leading lender were worth MWK13.78 ($0.01711), giving the bank a market capitalization of MWK95.1 billion ($118.1 million).

At the time of writing, FDH Bank is the second-largest financial services group on the local exchange, trailing only FMB Capital Holdings.