Fate of Kwekwe-based Australian mine owner to be known today

Lee Waverly John (42) through his lawyers pleaded with the court to place him under house arrest pending trial.
John is facing a fraud charge and that of giving a false statement pertaining to his directorship of Kwekwe Consolidated Gold Mine. He is being represented by Mr Admire Rubaya, Mr Valentine Mutatu and Mr Shelton Mahuni. Through his lawyer, Mr Rubaya, John told the court on Wednesday that he was a suitable candidate for bail and urged the court to release him and place him under house arrest, to ensure he would not abscond.
Prosecutor Mr David Magwegwe strongly opposed the granting of bail on the basis that John was a flight risk.
“My client is prepared to be placed under house arrest as long as he is out of custody and deposit US$1 000 with the clerk of court,” said Mr Rubaya.
“He is also willing to report as many times as the State wishes and to abide by any condition ordered by the court.
“The court should refuse to be used by the State and according to the defence, this matter is a ploy of political hawks who are aimed at grabbing the mine from the accused person. The court also should not allow the State to usurp its powers.”
The other lawyer, Mr Mahuni, questioned the criteria which the police used to select state witnesses arguing that all the 11 witnesses were irrelevant.
He said some of them were just former mine workers without any knowledge of the mine ownership.
Mr Mahuni said the former directors of KCGM never reported any fraud, hence the State’s case was weak.
“Who did he misrepresent to? “Who are the complainants? The State’s facts are silent on that hence their matter is weak if not dead,” he said.
“Nobody from the previous body of directors has come out to say that accused never purchased the company.
“He has been in and out of the country, but he never ran away even though he knew he was under investigation. He can stand trial, the court can put him under stringent conditions.”
Mr Mutatu added that the matter was more of a civil one than criminal.
He said John was lawfully living in Zimbabwe with a valid residence permit and had a valid agreement of sale for the mine.
Prosecutor Mr Magwegwe opposed the bail application and told the court that there were high chances that John would abscond and interfere with witnesses if granted bail.
He called in the investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Tapiwa Zvidza, who told the court that investigations were still underway, but had arrested the accused after he interfered with investigations.
Det Sgt Zvidza said John evicted two workers from the mine compound when he heard that they were going to be State witnesses.
“The accused also owns an aeroplane and between 2002 and 2005 he was seen flying illegally to Mozambique and as we speak, it is believed that the aeroplane is parked at Prince Charles Airport,” he said.
He said John failed to produce a valid agreement of sale for the mine as alleged by the defence.
“The accused is a holder of two passports in his name hence chances of abscondment are very high for it looks like he is connected considering he managed to acquire fraudulent documents,” said Det Sgt Zvidza.
In response to the State’s submissions, Mr Rubaya yesterday said the State was basing its case on hearsay concerning the two passports.