Violet Chipao
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Violet Chipao or Violet Palikena - Chipao (born 7 May, 1981) is a Malawian high court judge who joined the Financial Crimes Court Division. She has been involved in cases against serving government ministers.
Violet Chipao | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 May 1981 |
| Education | University of Malawi, University of Zimbabwe |
| Occupation | High Court Judge |
Life
Chipao was born in 1981 and in 2006 she graduated in law from the University of Malawi and she became a magistrate in the same year. She went on to study for her 2014 masters degree at the University of Zimbabwe.[1]
In 2020, Chipao was one of the six women who were promoted to be high court judges. The others were Maureen Kondowe, Anneline Kanthambi; Agnes Patemba, Vikochi Chima and Charlotte Wezi Malonda. The appointment was lauded by feminists because half of the appointees were women. President Chakwera also promoted Ivy Kamanga and Healey Potani to be Supreme Court judges. They had been involved in the case that had allowed his election. [2]
In September 2021 she sentenced wildlife trader Lin Yunhua to 14 years in prison for both trading illegally and money laundering.[3] He had dealt in tonnes of pangolin scales, rhino horn and ivory.[4] He was then expected to be deported.[3] He was surprisingly pardoned by President Lazarus Chakwera in 2025, but he was then rearrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. It was revealed that he had offered a large bribe to the officer-in-charge of Maula Prison, Aaron Ganyavu, in the hope of influencing Chipao to give him a more lenient sentence.[4]
In 2022 her duty station was at Nkhotakota in the Northern region. She was posted that year from the High Court in Zomba to the High Court in Lilongwe. She served on judiciary's training committee led by Annabel Mtalimanja.[1] She would lead this committee herself in 2025.[5]
She was part of the newly formed Malawi Financial Crimes Court Division's delegation to visit the Kenya Judiciary Academy in 2023. The party was led by Justice Prof. Redson Kapindu.[6]
In April 2025 she was considering a high profile case against Nicholas Dausi and Joseph Mwanamvekha who had been Cabinet ministers and three others. The case involved the alleged purchase at inflated prices of 18 billion Kwacha supplies for the prison service in 2019 and 2020. Chipao refused an appeal by Mwanamvekha's lawyers and referred the case to trial.[7]
In February 2026 Chipao called the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fostino Maele, to account for why he had stopped a case against Jean Mathanga,[8] who was a serving government minister for Energy and Mining.[9]
Former minister (and serving minister), Norman Chisale, escaped prosecution for unexplained wealth in March 2026 when the Director of Public Prosecutions decided to not proceed with a 2024 case against him involving 5 billion Kwacha. Chipao ordered that the case be discontinued on 5 March 2026[10]
Professor Garton Kamchedzera who teaches law at the University of Malawi believes that politics is overuling legal judgement. He believes that these repeated stoppages of cases are likely to undermine confidence in Malawi's system of justice.[11]