Harare regional magistrate Mr Taurai Manuwere acquitted the
pair on all charges after the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond any
reasonable doubt. The two had pleaded not guilty to allegations of awarding a
tender to Fremus Enterprises for the rehabilitation of roads under Gutu Rural
District Council, Zaka Rural District Council and Gwanda Rural District
Council.
Fremus Enterprises is owned by Freddy and Masline Chimbari.
In his judgment delivered yesterday, Mr Manuwere noted that
the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt on all the
three counts.
In respect of Mr Chitukutuku, the prosecution failed to
prove a charge in respect of any competent verdict, in this case failure to
disclose to his principals his financial interests in Fremus Enterprise.
“In respect of first accused (Chitukutuku) none of the
witnesses could link him to the offences charged and even the investigating
officer could not rule out that payments made to him by Fremus where emanating
from a legitimate business transaction to do with the purchase by Fremus of the
40 percent shareholding in Champions Insurance,” said the magistrate.
He said Mr Chitukutuku produced a contract between Hotspike
and Fremus on the point and a schedule showing repayments made factoring in
interest.
His explanation for the payments, the court ruled, was
reasonable and possibly true. A criminal defence only has to show that an
alternative explanation of the facts could be true in the eyes of a reasonable
person, not that it is necessarily true.
There was no evidence to link any of the accused to the
offences preferred.
The court also found Mr Juma not guilty of any wrongdoing.
He was once acquitted by a disciplinary tribunal on the same facts in 2017.
Mr Juma was linked to the offence by a telephone call
allegedly made to Gutu Rural District Council, but the magistrate made a
finding that the allegation had no substance.
“The two accused are accordingly found not guilty and are
hereby acquitted,” said Mr Manuwere.
The two Zinara executives were allegedly accused of
receiving more than US$140 000 from Fremus Enterprises as a kickback after
awarding it the tender for the work in the three council areas.
Mr Chitukutuku, who was being represented by his lawyer Mr
Jonas Dondo, in his defence, said he was not involved in the handpicking of any
rural district councils to benefit from any special fund projects as alleged.
He said he was only aware of two programmes that Zinara was
involved in namely the routine road maintenance programme and the periodic
maintenance road programme.
Mr Chitukutuku denied imposing a contractor on any council
as alleged, saying he had no powers and authority to do so.
He told the court that the money he received from Fremus
Business Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd was payment towards the purchase of a 40 percent
shareholding in Champions Insurance Company.
Mr Chitukutuku is a director of Champions Insurance.
He said he was able to demonstrate that in February 2010
through his company called Hotspike (Pvt) Ltd which was able to conclude a
contract with Fremus Business Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd in terms of which Fremus
purchased the 40 percent shareholding in Champions Insurance for US$100 000,
which amount Fremus undertook to pay with interest over time.
Through his lawyer, Mr Mabasa Mukome, Mr Juma denied the
allegations, saying between January and June 2011, he was not working at Zinara
headquarters as alleged by the State.
He told the court that he was actually working in Bulawayo
as a planning and monitoring engineer and was only appointed as technical
director in March 2013.
He said funds allocation and roads approval were done by
the Zinara board, while procurement, service providers, and the appointment of
contractors were done by the road authorities, in this case the three rural
district councils. Herald
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