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Prosper Dembedza-Court Correspondent
Harare magistrate Mrs Munashe Chibanda has dismissed an application by legal clerk Constantine Chaza to have aspects of his prosecution referred to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that the application was frivolous and vexatious.
In his application, Chaza submitted that some of his rights were violated. Prosecutor Mrs Shambadzeni Fungura had opposed the application claiming that Chaza was in the habit of forging documents and videos.
“The accused’s application for referral to the apex court is frivolous and vexatious and there is nothing stopping the witness from coming to court. Therefore, the application is dismissed,” ruled the magistrate.
After the ruling, Mrs Fungura said she was ready for trial but Chaza’s lawyer asked the court to postpone the trial and Mrsd Fungura was willing to grant a one week delay, to Tuesday next week.
Chaza, who was once working for Mr Tendai Biti, is facing two new counts of fraud.
On the first count, it is alleged that on February 26, 2020 at the High Court in Harare, Chaza tendered a fake special power of attorney from Mr Eliot Rogers in a matter in which Mr Tendai Mashamhanda, was the other party.
The court acted upon the misrepresentation and allowed Chaza to file the papers. But Mr Mashamhanda managed to contact Mr Rogers in the United Kingdom, who denied giving Chaza any power of attorney and the matter was reported to the police.
The special power of attorney tendered by Chaza was then checked out by CID Forensic Laboratory for analysis, together with other documents that Mr Rogers signed, and it was allegedly discovered that the documents were not signed by the same person.
On the second count, it is alleged that on October 18 2021 at the High Court in Harare, Chaza again allegedly tendered a fake special power of attorney from Mr Rogers in another case.
It is alleged that the matter came to light when Mr Piwayi Chiutsi noted that the signature on that special power of attorney dated September 27, 2015 was different from the signature by Mr Rogers on an affidavit done on October 7, 2014 and a report was made to the police. Investigations revealed that the two signatures were not authored by the same person.
Chaza is on $5 000 bail on another matter involving perjury charges after allegedly filing a false statement under oath at the High Court.
Online Reporter