Zim businessman sues British government

Local businessman Mr John Bredenkamp has instituted legal proceedings against the British government which he accuses of unlawfully causing his assets to be frozen under an anti-Zimbabwe sanctions regime.

The British Independent newspaper reported last Friday that Mr Bredenkamp is accusing the British Foreign Office of unlawfully causing his assets to be frozen based on "unsubstantiated" comments made to former British ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Andrew Pocock.

The businessman, according to the report, is suing British Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague after it emerged the British Government blacklisted him for supporting President Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Government.

His lawyers are challenging the lawfulness of the asset freeze and a European travel ban imposed on him between 2009 and 2012.

He was, however, removed from the sanctions list last year.

The case is before the British High Court.

Part of the arguments presented to the court read: "Remarkably, and despite the entirely predictable and disastrous consequences which would flow from listing the claimant, it appears the ambassador failed to seek, let alone obtain, any detail at all as to the comments made to him, and that he did not even make contemporaneous records of those comments he particularly relied upon."

Commenting on the lawsuit, Dr Tendai Murisa a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe said the development was a test case whose outcome would likely open floodgates of lawsuits.

"This is a valid test case. The sanctions, which are illegal by the way, have prejudiced many local and international companies. If Bredenkamp successfully sues the British government, other businesses that suffered the brunt of the illegal sanctions will also sue the British government," Dr Murisa said.