The bail hearing of Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu in the US$7 million Presidential Goat Scheme fraud case continued at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday.
The Investigating Officer (IO) from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) argued that the two should remain in custody pending trial commencement.
Mpofu and Chimombe are accused of forging documents to win the tender to supply goats under the Presidential Goat Scheme.
They are represented by lawyers Arshiel Mugiya and Tapson Dzvetero.
As reported by The Herald, the first witness, Gamuchirai Zimunhu, part of the ZACC investigating team, concluded giving her evidence on Monday afternoon insisting that the two were flight risks.
Zimunhu stated she believed Mpofu provided her with an incorrect address, citing a house in Greendale that is currently under construction and uninhabitable. This led her to suspect that Mpofu may have provided false information.
The second investigating officer, Henry Chapwanya, also took to the witness stand. He told Magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa that the house had no doors or windows. Said Chapwanya:
We found an unfinished house at the address provided by the first accused (Mpofu).
The house has no doors and windows and doesn’t look like anyone stays there.
We went around the house and it shows no one stays there.
Chapwanya also said the duo should be denied bail because they disrupted a project initiated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. He said:
The actions by both derailed His Excellency’s vision to attain a middle-income economy. These types of economic saboteurs need to be dealt with using an iron fist.
Added Chapwanya:
My fear is with the reaction of the public. If you look on social media people are very angry. If released on bail, there will be protests on the streets, which will undermine peace and security in the nation as the country is expecting to host the SADC summit in the next few weeks.
The bail hearing in the case is set to continue today, 02 July 2024.
ZANU PF sympathiser and cleric Passion Java was in the court gallery in solidarity with Chimombe and Mpofu.
According to ZimLive, Java chatted briefly with the two after the court adjourned before he left under a heavy escort comprising private security and state security agents.
A woman, believed to be Mpofu’s sister-in-law, allegedly harassed journalists for filming Java while he was chatting with Chimombe and Mpofu.
Outside the court, she reportedly became agitated and nearly broke the cell phone of another journalist who was filming.
Chimombe and Mpofu’s legal troubles began when they purportedly leaked their WhatsApp conversations with Wicknell Chivayo, an associate of President Mnangagwa embroiled in a $40 million Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) tender controversy.
They alleged that Chivayo unlawfully altered their agreement with South African firms Ren-Form and Better Brands to provide election materials to ZEC ahead of the 2023 national elections.
Chimombe and Mpofu are also suspected to have leaked Chivayo’s voice notes in which he claimed to have captured President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Chivayo accuses Chimombe and Mpofu of employing advanced Artificial Intelligence to fabricate the voice note, making it appear as if he self-incriminated.
Last month, ZACC chairperson Michael Reza said that they had built a strong case against the trio. He said:
I can tell you, right now we have some documents which we want to show the three gentlemen and I hope I am not prejudicing investigations, but I want Zimbabwe to know that we have not been sitting on this investigation.
We have collected certain facts and when that information comes on form 242 and if everything goes according to plan, we will use this to go to court.
You will see detailed information with facts, figures and numbers. You will see those things mark my words.
However, Chivayo continues to evade accountability, as he has not been summoned for questioning by ZACC.
This situation could be seen as reinforcing his assertion in the leaked audios that he has “captured” the “system.”
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