A HARARE magistrate yesterday said he would, on January 30,
make a ruling on an application for discharge filed by two former Zesa bosses
who together with ex-Energy minister Elton Mangoma, face corruption and
criminal abuse of office charges.
Mangoma (64), former Zesa Holdings chief executive officer
Joshua Chifamba (63) and Zesa Enterprise managing director Tererai Luis Mutasa
(54) appeared before magistrate Francis Mapfumo on a charge of allegedly
awarding a US$3 million contract to a South Korean company without following
due processes.
The trio filed an application for discharge at the close of
the State’s case.
In their application, the accused said the State had failed
to prove essential elements of the alleged offence, adding that evidence led by
witnesses did not prove that they showed favouritism to the South Korean firm.
Chifamba was represented by Oliver Marwa, Mangoma by
Tonderai Bhatasara, while Givemore Madzoka represented Mutasa.
Allegations are that sometime in 2010, one Choi Young of
Techno Company, met Mangoma at his government offices and they agreed to enter
into a technology transfer partnership with Zesa Enterprises for the
manufacture of switch gears.
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It is alleged that Mangoma then instructed Mutasa to liaise
with the South Korean firm with a view to establishing a partnership.
Mutasa then wrote to the State Procurement Board seeking
advice on the procedures to be followed in such partnerships, and was advised
to seek assistance from State Enterprises Restructuring Agency (Sera) on how to
proceed.
It is also alleged that Sera advised Mutasa to prepare a
memorandum which Mangoma was supposed to submit to the inter-ministerial
committee on commercialisation and privatisation of parastatals, recommending
the identification of a technical partner for the technological transfer
through a competitive bidding process.
On receiving the business proposal memorandum and bid
documents, Chifamba and Mangoma allegedly connived to by-pass the committee and
the competitive bidding process as a means of showing favour and making sure
that the South Korean company would automatically become the partner in the
technology transfer agreement.
The State alleges that the trio proceeded to award the
contract to the South Korean firm. As a result, Zesa Enterprises made an
initial payment of US$850 000 to the South Korean firm.
Due to the trio’s actions, Zesa Enterprises allegedly
suffered prejudice of US$850 000 and nothing was recovered. Newsday
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