admin
Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The new judge assigned to hear Neville Mutsvangwa’s bail appeal to the High Court, Justice Rogers Manyangadze, heard the submissions by both the State and the defence yesterday as the hearing started afresh and is expected to make his decision tomorrow.
Mutsvangwa is facing three charges of illegal foreign currency dealings and one of possession of an unlicenced Starlink router. He is being charged along with his two runners, Elias Majachani and Simbarashe Tichingana, on the foreign currency charges.
All three were denied bail in the magistrates court, but Mutsvangwa then appeal to the High Court.
There was a delay when Justice Esther Muremba, who originally heard the matter, recused herself on Monday citing personal reasons. She had been expected to give her decision the same day.
Ms Josephine Sande, appearing for Mutsvangwa, at the High Court hearings argued that the prosecution had no case against Mutsvangwa and his co-suspects and so the remand magistrate, said the lawyer, misdirected himself in denying bail to Mutsvangwa and his co-accused.
She argued that the prosecution hinged its evidence on Visa cards which were seized from Mutsvangwa’s Mount Pleasant home.
Ms Sande said possession of Visa cards is not a crime, neither is it evidence that someone is involved in illegal dealing with cash or money laundering.
But magistrate Dennis Mangosi denied the trio bail on the grounds that they could be tempted to abscond since the police found overwhelming evidence that the company Mumba Money Transfer, owned by Mutsvangwa, was an unregistered entity dealing in foreign currency.
Mr Mangosi was also concerned that the police had difficulties in arresting Mutsvanga after he first denied them entry into his Mount Pleasant house in Harare and then, when they the cut the electric fence and climbed over his gate eventually found him hiding between a precast wall and a pile of sacks containing waste.
Mr Mangosi, in his ruling against bail, said that Mutsvangwa was a high-profile figure with connections and could sustain a livelihood outside the country hence was a flight risk.
The other team of detectives visited the Mumba Money Transfer office in the city centre where Majachani was serving clients.
Police recovered US$3 890 cash, some computers, a register of the transactions and over 20 Visa cards.
Online Reporter