BUSINESSWOMAN DENIES US$50K THEFT OF TRUST PROPERTY CHARGES

Zvikomborero Parafini

THE trial of businesswoman Chiedza Kambasha, who is facing theft of trust property charges involving US$50 000, finally got underway in the capital yesterday

Kambasha, represented by Killian Mandiki, pleaded not guilty to the offence.

It is the State’s case that Kambasha was trusted with keeping US$50 000, which was an installment for the purchase of a US$350 000 Mount Pleasant house, by the stepdaughter of her late friend.

Kambasha allegedly failed to produce the money, when its owner Princesse Xeala Katuala, demanded it.

Kambasha told presiding magistrate Sharon Matsika that she was the guardian of the complainant Princess Xela Katuala.

At some point, she said, she even had the financial power of attorney to assist Katuala with her affairs but tis arrangement was cancelled due to her spending habits.

The money belongs to the estate of the late Jacques Katuala, who is Princess’s father. The US$50 000 had been paid by Tafadzwa Samson Chiweshe as part payment in the purchase of the house in Mount Pleasant left behind by Princesse’s father.

She claimed on March 8, Chiweshe received a full refund of the US$50 000 and this was confirmed by his lawyers, Gollop and Blank, in a letter on September 25 this year.

She told the court that Princesse had no authority to bring such a complainant to court as she was not the executor of her father’s estate and cannot masquerade to represent the same in the absence of Letters of Administration.

Allegations are that sometime in 2006, Princesse relocated to Zimbabwe with her father Jacques Ghifem Katuala, and stepmother Jacquie Bontamba Boketsu Katuala.

In 2011, Princesse’s father passed away and left a house situated in Mount Pleasant, Harare.

Her stepmother passed away on December 22, 2021, leaving Princesse in custody of the house.

Her relatives, who are in the DRC and in the United Kingdom, agreed that Kambasha would be the custodian of Princesse since she was her stepmother’s close friend.

The family agreed to sell the house and on May 18.

It was sold to at an agreed purchase price of US$350 000.

Chiweshe paid a deposit of US$50 000 to Princesse and agreed to settle the balance upon transfer of the property.

Princesse gave Kambasha the power to keep her money, amounting to US$49 200 in trust, while waiting to receive the balance from Chiweshe.

She claims she did not receive the money when she requested for it.