HIGH COURT HALTS IVY KOMBO’S FRAUD TRIAL

Zvikomborero Parafini

THE fraud trial of songstress Ivy Kombo and her husband, Admire Kasi, has been temporarily halted till next year by the High Court, which has set down their review matter.

The couple and their suspected accomplice, Huggins Duri, approached the High Court seeking a review of magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka’s decision to call Justice Sylvia Chirawu- Mugomba to testify in their case.

Mugomba’s witness statement was recorded mid-trial, which has led the couple to cry foul and seek the intervention of the High Court.

The couple, in their application, argued that magistrate Chakanyuka grossly misdirected herself by calling Justice Mugomba in a manner which constitutes a brazen miscarriage of justice.

The couple said this has the effect of vitiating the proceedings in a manner which was contrary to the constitution.

They further accused magistrate Chakanyuka of ‘descending into the arena’ to assist the State in proving a case against them by allowing them to lead evidence from a witness whose evidence was irregularly and illegally obtained.

Claims are that in 2021, Kombo approached one Shorai Tafadzwa Mupunga, a CLE official, to assist her to register and write the law conversion examinations.

Mupunga is said to have advised her that she was going to engage Duri, who was then the executive secretary for the Council.

Allegations are that sometime last year, Mupunga approached Duri who indicated that he was able to facilitate the issuing of the conv

ersion certificates, without writing the conversion examinations, if the couple paid US$1 100.

The two allegedly paid the money through Mupunga who handed it to Duri, who then processed the certificates which certified that couple had written and passed eight conversion subjects which are Statute Law, Evidence, Bookkeeping, Civil Law Practice duties and functions and Ethics for Legal Practitioners, Civil Practice and Procedure, Common Law 1 and Common Law 2.

The State claims Duri handed over the certificate to Mupunga for transmission to the couple.
The trial has been remanded to January 17 next year to allow the High Court to make a decision on whether the judge should testify or not.