Fraud Charges Dropped Against Nyabadza Pending Geza's Return
National Prosecuting Authority on Wednesday, 26 February, dropped the charges against Basil Nyabadza, the former chairman of the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), before he could enter a plea.
Nyabadza is accused of defrauding Blessed Geza of US$1,362,000 in a land deal. Geza, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s War of Independence and a member of the ZANU PF Central Committee, is currently hiding because he faces charges of inciting violence, theft, and insulting the president.
As reported by The Herald, prosecutor Anesu Chirenje told the court that Nyabadza would be summoned again once Geza is available to appear in court.
Nyabadza disagreed with this decision and wanted the charges to be read to him and the trial to begin.
However, the new magistrate, Donald Ndirowei, who replaced Tilda Mazhande after she stepped down in the morning, agreed with the State’s decision to drop the charges before the plea.
Dropping the charges before the plea means that the evidence could be used again if Nyabadza is tried in the future.
If the charges had been dropped after the plea, it would have been an automatic acquittal, and the evidence could not be used again.
Last week, Magistrate Mazhande had warned that she would remove Nyabadza from remand if Geza did not appear in court, but Mazhande later stepped down from the case for personal reasons.
It is alleged that on October 29, 2020, Geza purchased a 423,504-hectare piece of land from Nyabadza for US$1,362,000, with Geza granted exclusive rights to subdivide, develop, and sell the land.
Nyabadza reportedly misrepresented that the land had title deeds, promising to provide them within a month but never did.
While Geza was working on subdivision permits, he discovered that Nyabadza had sold the same land to Velda Estates.
Geza later learned that the sale agreement had been cancelled without his knowledge after attempting to resolve the matter with Nyabadza.
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