BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi High Court on Thursday granted the country’s graft bursting body Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)’ warrant to re-arrest the business tycoon Thom Mpinganjira in regards to the judge bribery allegations.
High Court Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga ruled that ACB is at liberty to execute the warrant following the move for the defendant to cancel the warrant which did not comply with the law.
During the hearing, Lawyer Lusungu Gondwe who obtained a court order from a magistrate in Zomba to release the businessman,Thom Mpinganjira from Police custody after cancelling Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)’s warrant of arrest argued that ACB illegally detained Mpinganjira.
The lawyer further observed that the bureau disobeyed a Lilongwe Chief Magistrate court instruction to arrest & produce evidence before the court.
Mpinganjira who was arrested on January 22, 2020 following investigations after ACB boss received a phone call from a member of the judiciary was later release that night following orders by the Zomba magistrate court quashing the arrest warrant for the FDH bank boss.
Following the Inter-parte hearing that took place today on the matter, ACB argued that Zomba Resident Magistrate erred in law & fact for canceling warrant of arrest as he had no jurisdiction, the hearing was ex-party & could have sent applicant back.
According to Gondwe, ACB had ample time to take Mpinganjira before the court and that sending him to Blantyre Police Station was illegal detention.
The court has however admonished lawyer Gondwe for the manner in which he execute the matter and asked the registrar of the High Court to file a disciplinary action against him within 7 days.
Gondwe has also been ordered not to represent him in criminal matter.
