Supreme Court backs Mpinganjira on shares

Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal has backed business mogul and philanthropist Thomson Mpinganjira and others to proceed to apply for consideration as shareholders in M Development Limited, a key stakeholder in FDH Bank plc.

The matter went to the Supreme Court after the Mpinganjiras appealed the decision of the Financial Services Appeals Committee, an arm of the Ministry of Finance that handles financial grievances, which refused to transfer shares of Thomson Mpinganjira, William Mpinganjira and Annabel Chikondi Mpinganjira into M Development Limited, a company with shares in FDH Financial Holdings Limited.

In its ruling, the High Court earlier observed that Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) made some bizarre and unreasonable decisions, some of which, by the registrar’s own admission, did not have any basis in law and gave the bank orders, among others, to consider their application.

Last week, Justice of Appeal Dingiswayo Madise heard both parties on the application to sustain the order of stay which the Mpinganjira through their lawyers, opposed.

Delivering a judgement dated March 28 2023, he observed that the cardinal principle which is well settled is that an appeal does not operate as a stay of execution of the judgement of the court below.

However, Madise noted that a superior court may stay execution when certain conditions are meant.

The judge said he was in agreement with the Mpinganjiras that the balance of justice was severely against the order now being sought.

He said: “In this regard and in exercise of my discretion, this application for continuation of the order of stay is hereby dismissed and the order of stay of execution of the judgements of the court below is vacated pending the determination of the appeal.”

In an interview last evening, one of the lawyers representing the Mpinganjiras, Khumbo Soko, said: “What this means is that our clients will now proceed to present their applications to the registrar of financial institutions so that they can be considered as potential shareholders in M Development Limited.”

RBM, a registrar of financiawl institutions, made the decision due to a bribery case in which Mpinganjira was answering and was subsequently convicted and sentenced in October 2021 to nine years imprisonment.