Chiadzwa wants his 8,6kg diamonds back

8,61kg of diamonds from the State.
The diamonds were equivalent to 43 028 carats.

Chiadzwa was last year jailed five years and fined US$132 000 for the offence, but the High Court in June this year quashed his conviction and sentence.
On the strength of the acquittal, Mr Chiadzwa has filed a court application for the release of the diamonds.
When Mr Chiadzwa was arrested, it was not an offence to possess diamonds and now that the law prohibits possession of such diamonds, he suggested that the diamonds should be surrendered to the clerk of court.

The clerk would then forward the diamonds to Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe for sale on behalf of Mr Chiadzwa.
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, the Officer Commanding Criminal Investigation Department’s Minerals section and the officer-in-charge CID Minerals were cited as respondents.
According to Mr Chiadzwa’s founding affidavit, the diamonds were in the possession of the police and that they were never handed over to the clerk of court when the trial commenced.

He said the police have no legal basis to hold on to the diamonds.
“The respondents have no legal basis to be in possession of my diamonds in the first place. In terms of Section 16 of the Precious Stones Act, the stones were supposed to have been delivered to the Secretary for Mines immediately upon my conviction.

“I am surprised that more than one and half years after my conviction, the respondents (police) are still in possession of the stones.
“What is most surprising is that the provincial magistrate (in) Mutare is not even aware of the whereabouts of the exhibits as she had been made to believe that they were collected by the Ministry of Mines officials,” he said.

Mr Chiadzwa added that according to the law, the diamonds were supposed to have been transmitted to the clerk of court at the beginning of the trial.
If the clerk of court was not in a position to hold the exhibits, he or she could have requested the police to retain them, Mr Chiadzwa said.
When Mr Chiadzwa was cleared by the High Court some three months ago, his lawyers wrote to the provincial magistrate in Mutare Ms Mungwari requesting the release of the diamonds.

Ms Mungwari advised them that officers from the Ministry of Mines had taken the diamonds.
She also stated that the clerk of court did not handle the diamonds.
“Effectively the 8,61kg of precious stones you requested were never handed over to the clerk of court, but instead upon completion of the matter by the presiding officer, they were released into the custody of the

Ministry of Mines officials, one year four months ago,” she said.
The Mines Ministry did not confirm possessing the diamonds saying the permanent secretary had not yet published confirmation that he was now in possession of the diamonds.

Officer commanding CID Border Control Unit Assistant Commissioner F Gumbo said: “Some formalities are being done and you will be advised of the position in due course.”
That prompted Mr Chiadzwa to mount a court application for the release of the diamonds.
Yesterday High Court judge Justice Francis Bere ordered Chiadzwa’s lawyers to file heads or argument by tomorrow explaining whether it was proper for Mr Chiadzwa to cite the police only without including the Attorney General and the Minister of Mines.

The court also wants to hear from the lawyers whether it was proper for the diamonds to be returned to Mr Chiadzwa among other issues.
The police did not file any opposing papers at the High Court and only Mr Chiadzwa’s lawyers attended the court hearing.