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Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
Harare businessman Neville Mutsvangwa and his two suspected runners were yesterday finally granted US$1 000 bail each pending trial on three charges of illegal foreign currency dealings and one extra charge for Mutsvangwa of possession of an unlicensed Starlink router.
The new judge assigned to hear Mutsvangwa’s bail appeal to the High Court, Justice Rogers Manyangadze, granted the three bail coupled with stringent conditions.
The bail appeal ruling was delayed when Justice Esther Muremba, who originally heard the appeal, recused herself on Monday, citing personal reasons. She had been expected to give her decision the same day.
In his ruling yesterday, Justice Manyangadze allowed the appeal by the three and overturned the remand court decision to deny them bail when compelling reasons as required by the law on bail had not been established.
The misdirection by the lower court, the judge said, justified the High Court’s interference with the decision.
The judge found that the lower court misdirected itself when it assumed that the seriousness and the penalties likely to be imposed on the three upon conviction were enough to induce Mutsvangwa to flee the country.
But the magistrate was incorrect when he considered that the seriousness of the offences and likely penalties created a fertile ground for Mutsvangwa to flee.
“The penalties are unlikely to induce the desire for abscondment. They do not present imprisonment as the only sentence, although assessing sentence is a matter within the discretion of the court. All the offences facing the accused have an option of a fine. The magistrate did not elaborate how the inducement for abscondment can be triggered,” said Justice Manyangadze.
Mutsvangwa is being charged along with Elias Majachani and Simbarashe Tichingana, on the foreign currency charges. All three were denied bail in the magistrates’ court and appealed to the High Court.
Ms Josephine Sande-Chimombe, appearing for Mutsvangwa, at the High Court argued that the prosecution had no case against Mutsvangwa and his co-suspects, and so the remand magistrate 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 but 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.
Prosecutor Mr Ben Nyahunzvi had opposed bail.
In his submission, he supported the decision of the lower court, arguing that there was no misdirection on the part of the magistrate.
Even if a misdirection could be found, it did not follow that the decision of the lower court should be vacated.
He argued that the judge should be swayed by other factors that render Mutsvangwa and his accomplices unsuitable candidates for bail.
In the lower court, 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 Mutsvangwa after he first denied them entry into his Mount Pleasant house in Harare and then, when they 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 also ruled 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.
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