Court orders convicted Malawian tycoon Thom Mpinganjira to sell FDH bank shares

The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has ordered Thom Mpinganjira to sell his shareholding in FDH Bank, according to Malawi 24.

Mpinganjira, who is represented by lawyers Khumbo Soko and Hilda Soko, has been granted a stay of execution against the verdict.

Mpinganjira was sentenced to nine years in jail last year for attempting to bribe judges overseeing the 2019 presidential election. He was released from prison earlier this year after being granted bail pending an appeal.

Due to Mpinganjira’s conviction, RBM determined that he should sell his shareholding in FDH Bank.

However, Mpinganjira, together with the Financial Services Appeals Committee, Peter Frank Mpinganjira, Nathan Mpinganjira, William Mpinganjira, Annabel Chikondi Mpinganjira and M Development Limited, filed an appeal.

They appealed to the Financial Services Appeals Committee, a department of the Finance Ministry that deals with financial complaints.

The appellants alleged, among other things, that the Central Bank RBM failed to offer legally sufficient reasons for M Development Limited to sell its shares in FDH, claiming that RBM viewed Mpinganjira and M Development Limited as a single entity.

Mpinganjira was the single controlling stakeholder in M Development Limited, and M Development Limited was also a controlling shareholder in FDH, according to the committee, which included retired Justice Isaac Mtambo.

Mtambo pointed out that, despite RBM’s repeated requests, Mpinganjira was not replaced when he departed M Development Limited.

“While we accept that [Thomson Mpinganjira and M Development Limited] are separate and distinct entities in law, we wonder how to separate them on the facts before us which clearly that [M Development Limited] would in practice and reality be non-existent without [Thomson Mpinganjira],” Mtambo said.

The committee then ordered that FDH have a suitable and appropriate controlling shareholder (s).

However, thanks to a stay order obtained by his lawyers, Mpinganjira will not be obliged to sell his shares at this time.