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Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
The Harare Magistrates Court has dropped charges against Dorowa Minerals managing director, James Chigwende, who was accused of defrauding a local company of US$77 000.
Chigwende had been jointly charged with his parent company, Chemplex Corporation Limited, for allegedly forging a contract related to the provision of services.
He was facing forgery charges and appeared before Magistrate Mr Isheunesu Matova.
His defense lawyer, Mr Moffat Makuvatsine, made an application to have the charges against Chigwende withdrawn as he was not supposed to have been charged in his personal capacity.
The defense argued that any legal liability should rest with the company, Chemplex Corporation Limited, rather than Chigwende.
The prosecution conceded to the application, and the charges against Chigwende were withdrawn before he entered a plea.
The State has now shifted its focus to Chemplex Corporation Limited, which is being represented by its legal manager, Mr Kudakwashe Jenami.
Prosecutor Mr Rufaro Chonzi informed the court that the State had obtained the relevant docket and was finalising minor amendments.
The company has been remanded to February 3, pending the provision of a trial date.
The case stems from a contractual dispute between Chemplex’s subsidiary, Dorowa Minerals, and Coursim Investments, a company owned by Courage Katiyo, the complainant.
On February 20, Katiyo signed a 90-day fix-and-supply contract with Dorowa Minerals. The contract, facilitated through Chemplex Corporation, involved the erection of a greenhouse shade at Dorowa Minerals’ Murambinda site.
A payment of US$77 264.19 was supposed to be paid to Coursim Investments. The contract was signed by Katiyo and the acting general manager of Dorowa Minerals at Chemplex’s headquarters in Harare.
However, witnesses for Dorowa Minerals, stationed at the mine, were unavailable at the time.
The witnesses, Viznet Ruzvezve and Evans Bonde, signed the contract on February 22 and returned the signed document via email.
Katiyo later received a scanned copy of the signed contract and acknowledged its receipt.
The business relationship allegedly went sour when contractual breaches emerged, prompting Katiyo to terminate the agreement and send a termination notice to Chemplex via email.
After termination, Katiyo demanded payment for the services rendered. Chigwende allegedly disputed the payment claim and presented a contract document that had allegedly been unlawfully altered.
The State alleged that Chigwende had forged the document by replacing the witnesses’ signatures and falsely dating them back to February 20.
This forgery was reportedly used by Chigwende to manipulate the terms of the contract and justify non-payment of the claimed amount.
Katiyo discovered the discrepancies in the contract and accused Chigwende of using the forged document to withhold payment.
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