Zanu-PF MP's warrant of arrest cancelled

Harare magistrate Ms Yeukai Chigodora yesterday cancelled a warrant of arrest she had previously issued to Zanu-PF Member of Parliament for t Chakari Constituency Andrew Nkani (55) after he failed to show up at court.

Nkani was facing fraud charges. Asked by Ms Chigodoro why he failed to show up at court on Monday, Nkani responded saying he was told by his lawyer that he was supposed to come back to court on August 6.

Mrs Chigodora cancelled the warrant of arrest and deferred the matter to August 6. It is alleged that sometime in 2011, the complainant Andrew Karonyo and other 99 teachers, formed a housing cooperative called Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe Housing (PTUZ) cooperative.

On January 29 2013, the cooperative was issued with a certificate of registration by the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development.

The cooperative started looking for residential stands to allocate to its members. The court heard that during that same year, Nkani was introduced to Karonyo by officials from the ministry as an approved auditor who had a running project with the City Of Harare.

It is alleged that the Karonyo called for a general meeting with the PTUZ members and invited Nkani as well as officials from the ministry.

The court heard that Nkani advised the PTUZ members that he had 100 residential stands in Budiriro 5 Extension measuring 300 square metres. He allegedly advised members that to qualify for allocation of the stands, each member was supposed to contribute $800, which added up to $80 000 for members. It is the State's case that the whole cooperative agreed and a memorandum of agreement was signed to that effect.

The court heard that in November 2014, the cooperative managed to raise the required $80 000 and part of the money amounting to $63 000 was transferred from PTUZ Housing Cooperative BancABC account into Forward Housing Cooperative Bank account and the difference of $17 000 was paid directly to Nkani as cash. It is alleged that Nkani acknowledged receipt of all the payments.

The cooperative then engaged Nkani for the allocation of the stands and he started giving some excuses saying he was expecting to get a permit and offer letter from the Harare City Council.

Nkani allegedly advised the cooperative that there were supposed to raise another $2 000 for the development permit to be issued and $5 000 for drawing of water and sewer diagrams. It is alleged that Nkani further asked the cooperative to raise another $4 000 for the offer letters.

The court heard that the Karonyo kept on asking for the stands from Nkani, who then managed to allocate40 stands. It is alleged that of the allocated stands, Karonyo discovered that there were double allocations on five stands, but Nkani insisted that the stands were theirs and did not recognise those who were claiming ownership. It is alleged that the cooperative could not take the stands as they were already developed.

Koronyo, as the chairman of the cooperative, made several efforts to have Nkani handover the outstanding stands and resolve the issue of double allocations, but nothing materialised. As a result of Nkani's actions the Koronyo suffered prejudice in the sum of $63 000 and $17000 was recovered.