Four years after being convicted of attempting to bribe judges, business mogul Thom Mpinganjira is still outside prison, thanks to the shortage of judges at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
On Tuesday, the court failed to hear his appeal case because the judges failed to make a quorum, a situation that has dragged the case over the year
Mpinganjira was convicted in October 2021 but was released in February 2022, pending his appeal at the SCA.
As of Tuesday, the court had only six judges, instead of the recommend minimum number of seven.
Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda said hearing would commence when additional Supreme Court of Appeal justices are appointed to make the quorum.
Mpinganjira lawyer Wapona Kita said the court communicated that some SCA judges could not hear the case as they were also involved in the High Court, where his client was convicted.
“According to the Constitution, they are allowed to appoint acting justices. So, that is the process that they are going to undertake and, in the next sitting, they will have those plus other members to make the quorum,” he told the media in Blantyre
Mpinganjira was sentenced to nine years imprisonment after the High Court of Malawi found him guilty of attempting to bribe five judges who presided over the May 21 2019 presidential election nullification petition.
Mpinganjira was arrested in January 2020 following a complaintformer Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda lodged with the Anti-Corruption Bureau that there were attempts to bribe the five High Court judges that were sitting as a Constitutional Court to rule in favour of the then governing Democratic Progressive Party president Peter Mutharika in the presidential election nullification petition.
He was answering six charges under the Corrupt Practices Act, but was convicted on two counts by High Court Judge Dorothy DeGabrielle.
