FOUR senior officials from the Bulawayo High Court have been suspended on allegations of forging a law firm’s date stamp in a move allegedly meant to influence the outcome of a Supreme Court case.
The four — Bulawayo
High Court registrar Felix Hwara, court clerk Joyce Ngoma and deputy
registrars; Andrew Ngwenya and Achidaishe Simari — were suspended to allow
internal investigations to go ahead.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) head of corporate
services, Mr Daniel Nemukuyu, confirmed the suspension and said investigations
were underway.
“We can confirm that our four officers based in Bulawayo
were suspended after corruption allegations were raised against them. The
suspension is meant to allow internal investigations. The investigations have
since commenced and we will be guided by the outcome. As the Judicial Service
Commission, we do not condone corruption,” said Mr Nemukuyu.
While Mr Nemukuyu could not shed more light on the
corruption allegations, sources close to the matter said the quartet is accused
of forging a law firm’s rubber stamp. Allegations are that the four, acting in
cahoots, used a forged stamp on papers that were supposed to be served to a law
firm (name withheld) which was representing an applicant in a matter that was
set for the Supreme Court.
The papers which were supposed to inform the applicants of
when the matter was slated to be set down were, however, not served to the
lawyers but were filed in the court’s records. As a result, that influenced a
ruling against the applicant, and the lawyers argued that they were not served
with the papers. Upon inquiry, the lawyers were shown the papers which were
filed in the court records and had their stamp which was “proof” that they had
indeed received the papers.
However, the lawyers allegedly discovered that the stamp
was forged as the date was in a different colour from the one they use. Forgery
allegations were raised leading to the suspension of the four. The JSC has
previously reiterated its stance of zero tolerance to corruption within the
country’s justice system, warning that stern measures would be taken against
rotten apples.
This has seen the JSC so far busting a corrupt cartel at
Nyanga Magistrates’ Court involving two clerks and some top officials.
In Masvingo, a magistrate was dismissed over gross
incompetence linked to alleged corruption, while in Rusape the JSC resolved to
transfer nearly the entire staff at the station following reports of alleged
corruption. In August a former Kwekwe resident magistrate and his clerk of
court were sentenced to a combined 24 months in prison after they were
convicted of abuse of office.
Some of the corruption cases that the judiciary has taken
zero tolerance on include receiving bribes, violation of court rules and other
malpractices. Sunday News
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