Former Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) chief executive officer Saston Muzenda (48) has been jailed for 36 months for corruption, reported NewZimbabwe.com.
Muzenda was charged with criminal abuse of office as a public officer and was convicted after a full trial.
However, six months of his sentence was suspended on condition he doesn’t commit a similar offence in the next five years.
He will, therefore, serve an effective 30 months.
Muzenda was found guilty of unlawfully awarding a tender to an undeserving security company, at the expense of two other firms, which had been awarded the job.
He allowed Ex-Combatants Security company to provide services to ZINARA when the ZINARA board had resolved to give the job to Morden Security and Real Star Security.
Allegations were that in June 2019, Modern Security and Real Star Security were awarded tenders to provide services at ZINARA’s Northern and Southern regions from September 1 of the same year.
Ex-Combatants and National Eye Security’s contracts were expected to end on August 31, 2019, before Modern Security and Real Star Security took over.
Muzenda, who was acting ZINARA CEO, had already allowed Ex-Combatants Security to add security guards in areas that were manned by National Eye Security. Prosecutors said:
The accused person went on to write a letter to the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) seeking the extension of the contract for a further 12 months.
PRAZ asked Muzenda for the contracts and he responded by saying he had already extended Ex-Combatants Security’s contract by 12 months. Appearing for the State:
This was unlawful and unexpected of the accused person who held public office at the time.
ZINARA had to make payments amounting to ZWD300 948 to Ex- Combatants Security after receiving a letter from PRAZ instructing them to terminate their contract with the security company.
During the trial, Muzenda denied the charges. He argued that the security companies were already involved in contractual disputes when he assumed the position of CEO at ZINARA.
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