News / National
Obert Mpofu to testify in $2 billion fraud trial
07 Jul 2014 at 18:33hrs | Views
Former Minister of Mines and Mining Development, who is now the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Obert Mpofu will testify in court in the ongoing $2 billion fraud trial of Lovemore Kurotwi and Dominic Mubaiwa.
In a new twist to the Kurotwi and Mubaiwa fraud trial, the state, through Chief Law Officer, Chris Mutangadura, has successfully applied for a postponement to facilitate the summoning of Minister Mpofu as the final state witness.
The decision was made in Justice Chinembiri Bhunu's chambers and Mutangadura said the matter was postponed to the 23rd of July following his application to subpoena the minister as he was in charge of the portfolio when the alleged potential fraud occurred.
Mutangadura said the judge granted the application for postponement after he considered that the minister requires a reasonable period of notice to come and testify and that the postponement is in the interests of justice and transparency.
Defence lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, who represents Kurotwi in the case, was not amused by the continued postponements and accused the state of shifting goalposts at every turn to the detriment of the accused persons whose trial has taken four years.
High Court officials handling the trial went to Kimberly, South Africa for an inspection in loco requested by the state last month.
The area they were shown by the accused where one of the mining investors Canadile was allegedly mining diamonds from is now a game park.
The two businessmen, Kurotwi and Mubaiwa, stand accused of potentially prejudicing the state of $2 billion in diamond revenue by misleading government that a mining giant, BSGR, was interested in partnering them to invest in a joint venture with government to mine diamonds.
In a new twist to the Kurotwi and Mubaiwa fraud trial, the state, through Chief Law Officer, Chris Mutangadura, has successfully applied for a postponement to facilitate the summoning of Minister Mpofu as the final state witness.
The decision was made in Justice Chinembiri Bhunu's chambers and Mutangadura said the matter was postponed to the 23rd of July following his application to subpoena the minister as he was in charge of the portfolio when the alleged potential fraud occurred.
Mutangadura said the judge granted the application for postponement after he considered that the minister requires a reasonable period of notice to come and testify and that the postponement is in the interests of justice and transparency.
High Court officials handling the trial went to Kimberly, South Africa for an inspection in loco requested by the state last month.
The area they were shown by the accused where one of the mining investors Canadile was allegedly mining diamonds from is now a game park.
The two businessmen, Kurotwi and Mubaiwa, stand accused of potentially prejudicing the state of $2 billion in diamond revenue by misleading government that a mining giant, BSGR, was interested in partnering them to invest in a joint venture with government to mine diamonds.
Source - zbc
