Chawota appears in court |
Legal director in the Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructural Development Angeline Karonga and suspended Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) chief executive officer David Chawota yesterday
appeared in court on allegations of awarding a company they owned a tender to
supply bitumen to the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) before
sharing US$1 234 004.72.
The pair formed a company called Akodac Consultancy
Services in 2009 which was then awarded a tender in the same ministry which
Karinga is a director.
The two appeared in court facing charges of corruptly
concealing from a principal a personal interest in a transaction when they
appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Learnmore Mapiye.
The prosecutor, Mr Desire Chidanire, opposed bail and asked
the court to roll over the matter to April 1. He said the investigating officer
in the matter failed to attend court due to illness.
In response, the pair’s lawyer Mr Tinofara Hove told the
court that some of the investigating officers had attended court and the
prosecution must lead them as witnesses on why bail is being opposed.
Mr Chidanire told the court that the officers that were in
attendance were not part of the investigating team and were not privy to the
investigations.
Mrs Mapiye gave Mr Hove a chance to lead Mrs Karonga on why
she was a proper candidate for bail. Mrs Karonga told the court that she was a responsible
parent and a person of fixed abode.
She further stated that she would abide by any conditions
given to her by the court and that she would not flee trial as she owned
valuable assets in the country.
Mrs Mapiye said the court can only grant bail after all the
accused persons had made their submissions. She deferred the matter to April 1 for continuation of the
bail application.
It is alleged that in January, 2012 the accused persons’
company made an application to the State Procurement Board (SPB) to be on the
approved list of suppliers of bulk and drummed bitumen so as to participate in
Government tenders.
The application was duly approved.
The accuseds’ company went on to register with ZINARA, a
public entity under the MOTID as a supplier of bitumen. The company went on to carry out transactions for supply of
catmix and stable 60 which are products of the manufacturer of bitumen on 24
occasions from February 2 2012 up to August 18 2013.
The court heard that despite the fact that the accused were
carrying out transactions in connection with their principal’s affairs — that
is supplying bitumen to Zinara a public entity falling within the same Ministry
where Karonga is the legal advisor and Chawota is a general manager for CAAZ a
public entity reporting to the same ministry. Herald
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