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Prosper Dembedza
Herald Correspondent
The fraud trial of George Katsimberis has taken another twist, with his lawyer requesting to cross-examine the lawyer of the company that made the initial police report on why he reported former City of Harare senior official Roy Nyabvure to the police.
Nyabvure is facing criminal abuse of duty charges after he allegedly unprocedurally signed a building plan for Katsimberis that was used to build a showroom, which was later demolished by the City of Harare.
Katsimberis lawyer, Advocate Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, told the court that he would want the lawyer to stand as a witness and tell the court why he reported Nyabvure’s case to the police when the lawyer is not a City of Harare employee.
This was said during Katsimberis’ application for referral of his fraud case to the High Court. Katsimberis is claiming that he would not get a fair trial if Deputy Prosecutor General Mr Michael Reza continues as the prosecutor.
Mr Reza opposed the request by Adv Chinyoka to cross-examine the company lawyer as a witness, saying it was not proper at law.
“At my age, I thought I had heard everything but I was wrong. On the first day at law school, we are told that the complainant in a criminal case is the State but now we are hearing that the company lawyer is the complainant. Which law is that,” said Mr Reza.
“We have law students here and it is our obligation to teach them the correct things.”
The matter was deferred to August 16 for continuation.
During the previous sitting, Mr Reza told the court that the fraud trial of Katsimberis might not end anytime soon because of postponements.
He said this after Advocate Chinyoka had submitted that he wished for a postponement of the matter since he was not feeling well. Responding to the submissions by Advocate Chinyoka, Mr Reza said the history of this case was littered with postponements.
“With the pace at which we are going with this matter, I don’t think we will be able to finish it during our lifetime,” he said.
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