The former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman, Brown Mpinganjira, has been implicated in the judge shopping case in which business mogul Thomson Mpinganjira is accused of bribing a panel of five judges that heard the historical presidential election case.
Justice Mike Tembo, one of the judges who heard the election case, has told the court that through his interaction with Thomson Mpinganjira, there was a project hatched in the top hierarchy of DPP through some lawyers to bribe the Constitutional Court judges.
Tembo said the top banker Mpinganjira wanted to know whether the money, in excess of K100 million, was reaching the judges.
He told the court that, according to Mpinganjira, money was being sent through Justice Lovemore Chikopa.
He said the former Group Chief Executive officer for FDH Holdings told him that at one time Justice Healey Potani had dropped Justice Chikopa at his cousin, Brown Mpinganjira.
Tembo said according to Mpinganjira, three judges on the Con-Court panel received money from the DPP.
However, Tembo said he had no evidence that the said judges had indeed received the money.
According to Tembo, through his interaction with the Business tycoon, the money was getting to the judges through Brown Mpinganjira to Justice Chikopa.
The state paraded first witness Tembo, who gave text WhatsApp conversations and played one audio conversation between Mpinganjira and himself.
Tembo is in court today to testify of three counts namely: offering advantage in form of unspecified amount of money to public officers in advantage of presidential election case respondent- Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and Arthur Peter Mutharika; attempting to induce public officers into corrupt practices; and attempting to induce a public officer to abuse office.
Tembo is recounting how Mpinganjira tried to meet him through text messages, which have been made available in court.
The proposed meetings included Sunnyside SDA church where the two are members.
“I decided to avoid the church and other public places just to avoid meeting the accused,” Tembo told the court.
High Court Judge Dorothy DeGabrielle has adjourned the case to afternoon.
