Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
HARARE businessman Neville Mutsvangwa and his two accomplices, who are facing three criminal charges of illegal foreign currency dealing with Mutsvangwa facing a fourth charge of possessing a Starlink internet router without a licence, have been remanded in custody with their bail hearing adjourned to Monday.
In the first three counts, Mutsvangawa is jointly charged with Simbarashe Tichingana and Elis Majachani for contravening the Exchange Control Act. On the fourth charge Mutsvangwa alone is charged with breaching the Telecommunications Act after he was found in possession of a Starlink internet router without a licence.
The three are represented by their lawyer Jaqueline Sande.
The State is opposing bail on the grounds that the charges are serious and that Mutsvangwa refused to admit the investigating police officers into his premises, and they had to cut the fence to his home, and that he then hid in his yard between a security wall and some sacks containing waste.
On the charges under the Exchange Control Act, police investigations found that Mumba Money Transfer, an unregistered company owned and founded by Mutsvangwa, was offering unlicensed services as a money transfer agent at its offices in town and in Mt Pleasant where Mutsvangwa lives.
This Wednesday detectives visited Mutsvangwa at his house where he reportedly refused to let them in. His accomplice Tichingana came to the house and pretended to be a neighbour and when his phone was searched it showed that it contained some transactions pertaining to Mumba Money leading to his arrest.
The other team of detectives visited the Mumba Money Transfer office in town where Majachani was serving clients.
The police recovered US$3 890 cash, some computers, a register of the transactions and Visa cards among other things.
The State also opposed bail on the grounds that the accused were facing a serious offence, especially money laundering as the law provides that if convicted an accused is supposed to pay a fine exceeding ZiG500 000 or an amount equivalent to the property involved and imprisonment of 25 years or both a fine and imprisonment.
The State further submitted that the arresting detectives had to seek the assistance of Marlborough Police Station and were again denied entry into Mutsvangwa’s premises. They then had to apply minimum force and gained entry into the premises by cutting the electric fence and scaling the gate.
The officers conducted searches but could not find Mutsvangwa but they continued searching the whole yard only to find him hiding in-between the security wall and some sacks stashed with waste materials.
There was no justification for hiding and it was indicative of his unwillingness to stand trial, the State argued.
Mr Thomas Chanakira and Ms Ruvimbo Matyatya prosecuted.
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