EXILED former Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri
has exposed how serving and former top government officials and service chiefs
allegedly used their spouses as conduits to grab lucrative tenders in
government and security establishments.
The ex-police boss, believed to be hiding in South Africa
after he was hounded out of office during the November 2017 military coup which
toppled the late former President Robert Mugabe, has submitted a 25-page
dossier to the High Court to defend his properties which are under threat of
seizure by the State over allegations of being proceeds of corruption.
He stands accused of diverting US$32 million of public
funds to acquire a sprawling family business empire and properties in his 25
years as police boss.
In an affidavit filed at the High Court on Friday, which
has opened a can of worms, Chihuri said there was nothing unusual about his
wife, Isobel Halima Khan, through her companies, supplying goods and services
to the police force as other service chiefs did the same.
Chihuri claimed Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s
ex-wives Jocelyn Chiwenga and Marry Mubaiwa feasted on government tenders,
supplying police and the army with reflective sleeves and serving as
government’s travel agent, respectively.
Also named were senior police officers and their spouses,
including former Senior Assistant Commissioner Charles Makono and his wife
Abigail Makono, owners of Rewstand (Pvt) Ltd which also supplied uniform
fabrics for over $10 million as part of promoting Zanu PF’s indigenisation
policy.
“I saw nothing wrong in her (my wife) supplying, as most of
the service chiefs’ spouses supplied things, eg Jocelyn Chiwenga supplied ZRP
and the army with traffic sleeves, etc,” Chihuri said.
“Marry Chiwenga was a travel agent for government
departments and a written instruction was given by the Office of the President
and Cabinet for her to supply tickets for the entire government.”
He said a lot of senior officers across the rank and file,
including his then deputy Godwin Matanga and wife, supplied “a wide range of
vegetables and meat to ZRP amenities”.
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“These officers supplied large quantities of beef, chicken,
vegetables, fruits and goods according to their ability as a general practice
in support of indigenisation,” Chihuri said.
He raised several constitutional questions about the manner
in which the National Prosecuting Authority had set about hunting down his
assets, and freezing them.
Chihuri said the June 12 “unexplained wealth order” which
requires him to prove his innocence against alleged criminal activity violates
his right to presumption of innocence until proven guilty, guaranteed by
section 70 of the Constitution.
The order was granted by Justice Felistas Chatukuta
following an application by Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi to force Chihuri
and his spouse to explain how they acquired their vast empire, which includes
immovable properties and companies.
Chihuri, however, claimed he was being hounded by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa as part of a protracted fight that started during the
liberation struggle when the latter reportedly snatched his pregnant wife.
He added that he was being persecuted for refusing to take
part in the November 2017 military coup that toppled Mugabe.
The former police boss said his firms, NodPack, Adamah,
Croxile and Mastaw were subject to processes of internal tendering by Matanga,
adding that during that time, the Quartermaster (the late Senior Assistant
Commissioner Earnest Muchenjekwa) dealt with over 200 companies.
“Why pick on these few if it’s not persecution?” Chihuri
asked rhetorically.
He said to prove that he was being politically persecuted,
all service chiefs who served under Mugabe were reassigned, except him, with
some now serving in Mnangagwa’s administration as Cabinet, ambassadors or
permanent secretaries.
Chihuri said his persecution had been extended to his
farming business, where his grain was rejected by all Grain Marketing Board
depots.
“As an example of the level of persecution is that, in the
harvest season of 2017/2018, I took my maize to GMB (Grain Marketing Board)
Shamva depot as usual. Four big haulage trucks (gonyeti) were returned with the
load of maize to us, GMB citing that was an instruction given from above not to
receive our maize or any of our produce.”
He said attempts to take the grain to GMB depots in
Chitungwiza and Aspindale hit a brick wall until he ended up distributing it
for free.
Chihuri also questioned why there were attempts to seize
his upmarket house in Gletwyn built on two adjacent stands, and yet all top
service chiefs allocated stands in the area were allowed to consolidate two
stands into one.
He said as a result of the sinister motive, current
Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister Apolonia Munzverengi, a former
Senior Assistant Commissioner (SAC) in the ZRP, had grabbed records for the
property.
“These records were subsequently grabbed by Ms Apolonia
Munzverengi, who is the ex-ZRP SAC, and she is now minister and governor of
Mashonaland East province, who claims that this ZRP housing project is hers,”
he said.
“She has consolidated two stands in both phase 1 and phase
2 of the project. All this, with the concurrence of Commissioner-General Godwin
Matanga, because he wants to get at me.
“We are not the only ones who consolidated two stands and
bought more than one stand. Apolonia Munzverengi, our neighbour, put two stands
together in both phases one and two.
“ZRP ex-Commissioner Oliver Chibage has consolidated two
stands. Former Deputy Commissioner-General Innocent Matibiri consolidated two
stands. Farai Matsika did so too.
“Honourable Vice-President Chiwenga has two stands there
and also joined two other additional stands to make one stand, which is huge
because it was earmarked for a hotel on a kopje.”
“As far as Gletwyn is concerned, my persecutor and
tormentor Apolonia Munzverengi is persecuting me because she stole US$77 000
from the project and her runners shared US$23 000. That is the reason why she
left the ZRP.” Newsday
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