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Prosper Dembedza-Herald Correspondent
Harare regional magistrate Mr Ngoni Nduna has acquitted former Pokugara Properties general manager Michael van Blerk and his former company on charges of perjury.
In his ruling, the magistrate said the State failed to prove a prima facie case against Van Blerk and Pokugara Properties hence their acquittal.
The magistrate added that the plans produced as evidence by the State against Van Blerk appeared to be fraudulent in nature and as a result disallowed all evidence given by Nyabvure and struck it from the official case record.
During the previous sitting, the State’s third witness Allen Matambo threw George Katsimberis under the bus after telling the court that the plan he used to construct a showroom in Borrowdale was not found in the register book where all approved plans are registered.
Matambo, who is a plan records officer at the City of Harare is responsible for receiving plans submitted and giving them back to their owners after they have been approved.
Matambo revealed this during cross examination with Van Blerk’s lawyer Advocate Zhuwarara.
When the trial commenced, Katsimberis said that he had constructed the showroom according to plans approved on March 1 and he tendered them as evidence, but Matambo said the plan did not appear in the plan register which was brought to the court.
Asked by Advocate Zhuwarara whether the plan which Katsimberis claimed to have used to build the showroom was there in the register which was brought to court, Matambo said it was nowhere to be found.
Matambo also stated that the plans in the register were approved in February and the plan with the fake stamp was approved on March 1.
The State led by Mr Zivanai Macharaga closed its case after the cross examination prompting Adv Zhuwarara to advise the court that he will file his application for discharge at the close of the State’s case next week.
During trial, the second witness in the matter Roy Nyabvure, was left with an egg on his face after it was revealed that he was the one who caused the demolition of a showroom house in Borrowdale after fraudulently approving a building plan.
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