Former President, Peter Mutharika, has dismissed rumours that he was planning to visit Thom Mpinganjira in prison.
Mpinganjira, who is the FDH Bank founder and also a founding chief executive of the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) was first arrested on Friday 22nd January this year on criminal charges of attempting to bribe the Constitutional Court judges, purporting to influence them to decide the case in favour of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which is led by Mutharika as its current president.
He was released on mid-night bail that was granted by a Magistrate in Zomba. He was, however, re-arrested on Thursday, 28th January after the High Court of Malawi faulted a Zomba Magistrate’s Court order that quashed his initial warrant of arrest as illegal, incorrect and improper. In October he was released on bail obtained at a High Court sitting in Blantyre.
The Court decided his case, which entered trial in April, and ruling was delivered on Friday, 10th September 2021. He was pronounced guilty. He was then immediately remanded to Chichiri prison upon the Court revoking his bail following his conviction.
But speaking today through the new DPP spokesperson, Shadreck Namalomba, Mutharika has dismissed the rumours, saying he never planned to visit Mpinganjira at the prison.
Namalomba was speaking to media interview following the news that Mpinganjira has been temporarily removed from prison and taken to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre where he is receiving medical examination.
Assistant Commissioner of Prisons and In-Charge for Chichiri Prison, Thomas Damba, has since confirmed that Mpinganjira was taken to hospital on Sunday morning.
©Shire Times
Author: Kingsley Nkanda
Editor: Innocent Ian Marshal
