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NPA instrumental in Sharpe case witness' arrest
11 Nov 2022 at 21:26hrs | Views
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was instrumental in the arrest of a state witness in a case where Harare businessman Ken Sharpe is facing charges of perjury and malicious damage to property.
Michael Reza, the deputy prosecutor-general, is said to have penned the letter that cleared the way for the arrest of Harare City Council's regional building instructor Roy Nyabvure.
Nyabvure was arrested at the Harare magistrates' court on Tuesday on charges of criminal abuse of office because he allegedly did not circulate a housing plan used by businessman Georgios Katsimberis to construct a show house in Borrowdale, Harare.
The police officers that arrested him led by assistant inspector Evans Bota reportedly did not have a warrant of arrest.
It also took the police officers a whole day to come up with a charge against Nyabvure and they refused to disclose the identity of the complainant.
During Nyabvure's application for bail on Thursday, Bota initially said the complainant in the matter was the Harare City Council, but later said it was Pokugara Properties after he was quizzed by the accused's lawyer Mutumbwa Mugabe.
Reza's letter that was copied to the acting prosecutor-general, Special Anti-Corruption Unit, Police Anti-Corruption Unit, clerk of court regional, Harare magistrates' court and Mutumbwa Mugabe & Partners - Legal Practitioners was produced as an exhibit during the bail hearing.
Reza also copied himself in the letter directed to the officer-in-charge of police's Commercial Crime Unit dated October 14 where he claimed Nyabvure had finished testifying and has been cross-examined.
Nyabvure was arrested in court where he was scheduled to testify in the Sharpe case.The letter only has one stamp from the NPA.
Mutumbwa, whom the letter purports to be responding to, did not know about his existence.
The Special Anti-Corruption Unit, which is prosecuting the case, was also said to be in the dark about the letter.
"Please be advised that Mr Nyabvure was a state witness in the perjury trial against Michael Van Blerk and Pokugara Properties (Pvt) Ltd," reads Reza's letter.
"He has since led his evidence in chief, was cross-examined and re-examined.
"He was thereafter excused by the court as his witness duties were completed.
"If he is a witness in any other case and if I may be favoured with the CRB, I will be able to check and verify for you."
Katsimberis has approached the Constitutional Court challenging a September 2022 ruling by High Court judge Justice Siyabonga Paul Musithu dismissing his application to end his parallel prosecution.
The land developer argues the parallel prosecution relying on the same facts has resulted in the harassment of witnesses to weaken his case.
Pokugara once caused the arrest of Katsimberis on the same facts on a matter he is a witness against Sharpe.
Nyabvure is a state witness in the case where Katsimberis is suing Sharpe, his aide Michael John Van Blerk and top Harare City Council officials for perjury and malicious damage to property.
The case arose after the local authority demolished Kastimberis' show house in Borrowdale, Harare on allegations that it was built using a fake plan.
Sharpe and his company, Pokugara properties, council officials Mandla Ndebele, Isaiah Zvenyika Chawatama, Samuel Nyabezi and Lasten Taonezvi are accused of malicious damage to property after they destroyed Katsimberis' house.
Nyabvure has already testified in two cases consisting of perjury charges against Van Blerk and the Harare City Council and was due to testify on the malicious damage to property under case 1592/08/19 when the police arrested him.Before his arrest, Nyabvure had reported Sharpe's aide Tatiana Aleshina to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission claiming that she interfered with his case after allegedly wrote a letter on June 12, 2019, to town clerk Hoesah Chisango.
Aleshina allegedly wrote the letter a day after Nyabvure gave a statement to the police against Sharpe and his associates.
Aleshina allegedly possessed Nyabvure's statement less than 24 hours after he gave it to the police.
The council employee is also an accused person in a case where Katsimberis is being accused by Pokugara of fraud based on the same facts in which he is a witness against Sharpe's company.
Katsimberis has approached the Constitutional Court challenging a September 2022 ruling by High Court judge Justice Siyabonga Paul Musithu dismissing his application to end his parallel prosecution.
The land developer argues the parallel prosecution relying on the same facts has resulted in the harassment of witnesses to weaken his case.
Pokugara once caused the arrest of Katsimberis on the same facts on a matter he is a witness against Sharpe and his company. He has been appearing in court pursuing perjury and malicious damage to property cases against the group who are witnesses in his case.
Katsimberis has also laid perjury charges against Reza and three other prosecutors, Charles Muchemwa, Richard Chikosha and Tafara Chirambira for claiming that Pokugara reported him first to the police, contrary to the evidence.
Records show that Katsimberis reported the accused to the police on April 12, leading to their arrest and prosecution by the Special Ant-Corruption Unit.He is the key witness in the case but was arrested on July 28 after Pokugara made a counter-police report that he built a show house on its behalf using fake plans.
The hearing was postponed to November 28.
Michael Reza, the deputy prosecutor-general, is said to have penned the letter that cleared the way for the arrest of Harare City Council's regional building instructor Roy Nyabvure.
Nyabvure was arrested at the Harare magistrates' court on Tuesday on charges of criminal abuse of office because he allegedly did not circulate a housing plan used by businessman Georgios Katsimberis to construct a show house in Borrowdale, Harare.
The police officers that arrested him led by assistant inspector Evans Bota reportedly did not have a warrant of arrest.
It also took the police officers a whole day to come up with a charge against Nyabvure and they refused to disclose the identity of the complainant.
During Nyabvure's application for bail on Thursday, Bota initially said the complainant in the matter was the Harare City Council, but later said it was Pokugara Properties after he was quizzed by the accused's lawyer Mutumbwa Mugabe.
Reza's letter that was copied to the acting prosecutor-general, Special Anti-Corruption Unit, Police Anti-Corruption Unit, clerk of court regional, Harare magistrates' court and Mutumbwa Mugabe & Partners - Legal Practitioners was produced as an exhibit during the bail hearing.
Reza also copied himself in the letter directed to the officer-in-charge of police's Commercial Crime Unit dated October 14 where he claimed Nyabvure had finished testifying and has been cross-examined.
Nyabvure was arrested in court where he was scheduled to testify in the Sharpe case.The letter only has one stamp from the NPA.
Mutumbwa, whom the letter purports to be responding to, did not know about his existence.
The Special Anti-Corruption Unit, which is prosecuting the case, was also said to be in the dark about the letter.
"Please be advised that Mr Nyabvure was a state witness in the perjury trial against Michael Van Blerk and Pokugara Properties (Pvt) Ltd," reads Reza's letter.
"He has since led his evidence in chief, was cross-examined and re-examined.
"He was thereafter excused by the court as his witness duties were completed.
"If he is a witness in any other case and if I may be favoured with the CRB, I will be able to check and verify for you."
The land developer argues the parallel prosecution relying on the same facts has resulted in the harassment of witnesses to weaken his case.
Pokugara once caused the arrest of Katsimberis on the same facts on a matter he is a witness against Sharpe.
Nyabvure is a state witness in the case where Katsimberis is suing Sharpe, his aide Michael John Van Blerk and top Harare City Council officials for perjury and malicious damage to property.
The case arose after the local authority demolished Kastimberis' show house in Borrowdale, Harare on allegations that it was built using a fake plan.
Sharpe and his company, Pokugara properties, council officials Mandla Ndebele, Isaiah Zvenyika Chawatama, Samuel Nyabezi and Lasten Taonezvi are accused of malicious damage to property after they destroyed Katsimberis' house.
Nyabvure has already testified in two cases consisting of perjury charges against Van Blerk and the Harare City Council and was due to testify on the malicious damage to property under case 1592/08/19 when the police arrested him.Before his arrest, Nyabvure had reported Sharpe's aide Tatiana Aleshina to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission claiming that she interfered with his case after allegedly wrote a letter on June 12, 2019, to town clerk Hoesah Chisango.
Aleshina allegedly wrote the letter a day after Nyabvure gave a statement to the police against Sharpe and his associates.
Aleshina allegedly possessed Nyabvure's statement less than 24 hours after he gave it to the police.
The council employee is also an accused person in a case where Katsimberis is being accused by Pokugara of fraud based on the same facts in which he is a witness against Sharpe's company.
Katsimberis has approached the Constitutional Court challenging a September 2022 ruling by High Court judge Justice Siyabonga Paul Musithu dismissing his application to end his parallel prosecution.
The land developer argues the parallel prosecution relying on the same facts has resulted in the harassment of witnesses to weaken his case.
Pokugara once caused the arrest of Katsimberis on the same facts on a matter he is a witness against Sharpe and his company. He has been appearing in court pursuing perjury and malicious damage to property cases against the group who are witnesses in his case.
Katsimberis has also laid perjury charges against Reza and three other prosecutors, Charles Muchemwa, Richard Chikosha and Tafara Chirambira for claiming that Pokugara reported him first to the police, contrary to the evidence.
Records show that Katsimberis reported the accused to the police on April 12, leading to their arrest and prosecution by the Special Ant-Corruption Unit.He is the key witness in the case but was arrested on July 28 after Pokugara made a counter-police report that he built a show house on its behalf using fake plans.
The hearing was postponed to November 28.
Source - Byo24News
