adminAdmire Rubaya, notified the court of the defence’s intention to apply for refusal of further remand on the basis that the docket was supposed to be ready on April 29. “Your Worship, we intend to put a notice that on the next remand date if the State fails to provide a trial date we will mount an application for refusal of further remand,” he said.
“The docket was supposed to be ready by April 29 and we thought by now we would have been supplied with a trial date. It seems the State’s zeal of prosecuting the accused person is dying up.”
Prosecutor Mr David Magwegwe made an undertaking to provide Tanyanyiwa with a trial date on the next remand date on June 11.
At the same time, Magistrate Ms Anita Tshuma allowed Tanyanyiwa to start reporting once a week at Banket Police Station following his relocation to his Annandale farm in the area.
Tanyanyiwa, through his lawyer, had told the court that he has since been relieved of his post at Chitungiwiza Town Council and the only option was for him to reside at his farm. Tanyanyiwa is facing 52 counts of criminal abuse of office, eight counts of fraud and a count of corruptly concealing from a principal personal interest in a transaction.
On the first fraud case Tanyanyiwa, well knowing that he had no money to buy a house, allegedly hatched a plan to defraud Chitungwiza Municipality and took US$165 000 from council to buy a house in Chisipite.
On charges of corruptly concealing a personal interest in a transaction from a principal, the State says during the period extending from September to December last year Tanyanyiwa allegedly offered the Chisipite house through his estate agent for rental to Chitungwiza Municipality director of urban planning, Mr Conrad Muchesa. It
is alleged Tanyanyiwa, with the intention to deceive, did not disclose his personal interest in the house to his principal and council ended up paying him US$1 300 per
month for five months as rental for his property.
As a result, council suffered a prejudice of US$6 500.
He is also accused of criminal abuse of duty after he allegedly corruptly acquired three commercial stands using names of three different shelf companies.
Tanyanyiwa allegedly prejudiced his employer of US$170 000 when he diverted funds meant for the purchase of three Toyota Fortuners for other senior officials to buy his Toyota Land Cruiser V8.
During the period extending from September to December last year on 50 different occasions, Tanyanyiwa is accused of corruptly authorising cash payments amounting to U$337 253 to himself and other top council officials.
Online Reporter