First Discount Bank (FDH), the only bank in Malawi owned by a Malawian business tycoon, is under siege following the conviction and sentencing of Dr. Thomson Mpinganjira to 9 years imprisonment with hard labor for attempting to bribe the Constitutional court judges so that the May 2019 Presidential Elections Case favors former President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Media reports are indicating that Dr. Mpinganjira risks losing ownership of the FDH Bank because the Financial Laws do not allow a criminal convict to be part and parcel of running a financial institution and this will make him lose shares being the major shareholder of the bank.
Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor, Dr. Wilson Banda recently told a local Television station in Malawi that the Central bank had a meeting with Board members of FDH Bank on Dr. Mpinganjira’s 9-year jail sentence and the financial laws saying FDH Bank will soon issue a public statement on the same.
Dr. Thom Mpinganjira bought the bank that was then the Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) during Mutharika’s regime.
