Katsimberis loses bid to have Reza recused

Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent

Harare Magistrate Mrs Vongai Guwuriro Muchuchuti has dismmised another application by George Katsimberis to have Deputy Prosecutor General Mr Micheal Reza recused from his fraud case.

Katsimberis is accused of duping Pokugara Properties (Pvt) Limited of close to US$1 million in a joint venture to build cluster houses in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb.

In dismissing the application, Mrs Guwuriro Muchuchuti said there are certain conditions that must be followed by a prosecutor in terms of the constitution.

“Coming to this case, the recusal was based on two reasons, that the prosecutor wrote a letter leading to the arrest of Roy Nyabvure and the second was that the prosecutor had withdrawn charges against Kenneth Sharpe and Oleksandir Sheremet when they were jointly charged with Micheal Vanblerk and Pokugara Properties,” she said.

The Magistrate said the applicants did not submit any evidence showing that Sharpe and Sheremet were previously jointly charged with Vanblerk and Pokugara Properties.

“The State submitted that those two were never accused persons and the charge sheet of that case has only two accused persons Vanblerk and Pokugara Properties,” said Mrs Guwuriro Muchuchuti.

She added that on the issue of Nyabvure, the State indicated that he completed testifying on September 29, 2022 and the prosecutor wrote his letter in October 14, indicating that he had finished testifying. A reading of the State’s response shows that the prosecutor did not categorically State that Nyabvure was no longer a witness.

The Magistrate said that the prosecutor created a window of opportunity for anyone to check whether Nyabvure was a witness in any other case or not.

“There is no evidence of vindictiveness or bias on the part of the prosecutor. Coming to the allegations that he is the only prosecutor who deals with matters that involves Katsimberis and Tatiana Aleshina, Sharpe or Pokugara Properties, the prosecutor has indicated that the accused has bullied all other prosecutors leaving him as the only senior public prosecutor to deal with the matters,” she said.