Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti has claimed that businessman Kenneth Raydon Sharpe is part of the greatest land heist in the history of independent Zimbabwe.
Biti made the claims while testifying at the Harare Magistrate Court in a case where he is accused of verbally assaulting Sharpe’s business partner, Tatiana Aleshina.
Sharpe owns Augur Investments which entered into two land deals with the Harare City Council (HCC) which resulted in the local government authority losing vast tracts of land, according to NewZimbabwe.
According to Biti, the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) vice president, Aleshina has been involved in a series of land grab scandals through Augur Investment OU, a company she fronts.
Some Context:
In 2007, Augur Investment entered into an agreement with HCC to form a firm called Sunshine Development. Augur was supposed to deposit US$30 million into the capital bank of Sunshine Development. Augur would get 70 percent of shares in the joint venture company. Augur Investment allegedly deferred from depositing the money into the account, but took away land and transferred it to several shelf companies.
In 2008, HCC and Augur reportedly entered into another agreement for the construction of the airport road. HCC agreed to give land to Augur Investment in return for the construction of the road. Biti says Augur did not honour the contract but went ahead and claimed the land from the local authority. Instead, Augur subcontracted Fairclot in 2013 to do the work. Fairclot, however, withdrew all its equipment and stopped work on the road after doing just 2.7km of the 10km due to non-payment.
In May 2014, the central government cancelled the agreement between HCC and Augur for the construction of the Harare airport road due to the non-performance of Augur and their associates.
Biti says despite failing to deliver on their part, up until that time they had been given thousands of hectares of land, Augur demanded additional land as a penalty against the City of Harare.
The trial is set to resume on October 18.