The FDH Bank which is riddled in fraud and corruption is at it again, this time not receiving billions from the Reserve Bank of Malawi as was the case when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was getting out of power, but issuing of bribes to couch opposition Members of Parliament to shoot down a Bank (Amendment) Bill which is to be tabled for debate in the legislative House.
According to information made available to Shire Times, government is bringing up the Bill to amend the Banking Act Bill, among others, in order to give the Registrar of Financial Institutions power to intervene at an early stage when a bank becomes insolvent and lacks the financial capacity to run its business.
Member of Parliament speaking to Shire Times on condition of anonymity disclosed that currently, the Registrar’s powers to intervene in a bank that lacks money but is continuing to trade is limited to seeking a court order to wind it up which may take longer and the outcome is uncertain or to place the bank under statutory management which may also take a while to conclude.
Meanwhile, FDH Bank, which is one of the privately owned commercial banks in Malawi is reportedly on a sojourn to bribe some Members of the Parliament for their vote to shoot down the Bill.
“Members of Parliament belonging to the UTM and DPP have been holding caucuses in the past few days during which they met with representatives of Mpinganjira (owner of FDH Bank) and received K1,700,000 each,” a source said to Shire Times.
In trying to understand why the FDH is acting trembling with the Bill, Shire Times went through the Bill and observed that provision has been made within the amendment Bill which seeks to restrict criminally convicted persons from holding shares in any bank as well as requiring all shareholders to disclose the ultimate beneficial owner of the shares that they are holding.
Thom Mpinganjira, who is reputed for establishing the FDH Bank was, last year, convicted of corruption charges and was committed to prison from which he has since been released on bail pending appeal. Since his conviction, he transferred his shares to his son, William Mpinganjira, who is currently running the bank on his father’s behalf, leaving Mpinganjira the ultimate beneficiary of the shares transferred to the son.
Further, it is on record that Mpinganjira, in collusion with fellow DPP henchmen, fraudulently bought and undervalued the State-Owned Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) in 2015 during the DPP reign and merged its resources with the FDH Bank.
