High Court Rules Conversion Of US Dollars Into Zimbabwe Dollars Illegal
The High Court of Zimbabwe has ruled that laws used to convert US dollar balances into Zimbabwean dollars were unconstitutional to the extent that they violated property rights.
In a ruling delivered on 15 February 2023, High Court judge Justice Joseph Mafusire ordered CABS to pay the money to applicants in US dollars and not Zimbabwe dollars.
In a post on Twitter, Tendai Biti Law said the High Court ordered the bank to pay local businessman Richard Harold Stuart Beattie and his wife Penelope Douglas Stone US$142 000 that had been unlawfully converted to RTGS dollars. It said:
In 2019 the Gvt of Zimbabwe caused chaos & severe economic loss to millions of Zimbabweans when it demonetised the US dollar & introduced the valueless Zim$.
We are pleased to announce that the High Court has declared unconstitutional the appropriation of US$ savings in our own case
Since 2019 we have acted for Richard Beattie & Penny Stone in their action to recover US$142000 unlawfully converted by a bank.
We are proud and privileged to have won yet another landmark. We are grateful to Advocate [Tererai Mafukidze] who argued the case on our behalf. We are truly, truly humbled.
