MUPFUMIRA PASSPORT BID FLOPS
FORMER minister Prisca Mupfumira’s bid to have her two passports released flopped yesterday after the presiding magistrate ruled that there were no new circumstances that warranted the release of her passport.
Mupfumira sought to have her diplomatic passport as well as her normal passport that has her UK visa released unconditionally allow her to travel to South Africa for medical treatment because she is surviving on one lung after surgery in 1987.
She was also seeking to have her reporting conditions reviewed from twice a week until she returned. The surrender of her passports and reporting conditions are part of her bail conditions.
Delivering his ruling, magistrate Ngoni Nduna said when she applied for bail in September last year at the High Court, she knew that she had a lung condition and should have contested submitting her passports as she needed to frequently travel for medical checks.
The application was not being made in good faith because she was demanding the release of her ordinary passport, which has her UK visa while claiming that she wanted to travel to South Africa for medical treatment.
“The medical condition was known on the initial appearance because the lung was removed over 30 years ago and accused person should have contested submitting her passport as part of her bail conditions. The application looks like it is not being made in good faith because she is demanding the release of both her passports; the diplomatic one which she will use to get VIP treatment at the airport and the ordinary one which has her UK visa, which becomes questionable.
But he did agree to change the reporting conditions from twice a week to once a month.
The State alleged that sometime in 2013 Metbank defaulted in payment of US$25,3 million investment loan maturity to NSSA that was secured with properties worth around US$32 million.
NSSA then took over Metbank properties they held as surety to a value of US$25,3 million on a purchase/sale agreement. As a result, NSSA remained holding on to Metbank properties, worth around US$7 million, after sealing the US$25.3 million investment loan.
As a result of the default, NSSA classified Metbak as a high risk client that was not worth trading with.
But in December 2014, Mupfumira was appointed Minister of Public Service and on December 15, five days after her appointment, she held a meeting with Metbank officials Ozias Bvute, Enoch Kamushinda and Belmont Ndebele at the ministry offices with no minutes recorded.
The next day Mupfumira and Masoka held another meeting with then NSSA general manager James Matiza and the Metbank officials at the ministry offices.
Mupfumira allegedly instructed NSSA to financially bail out Metbank to the tune of US$15 million as it was facing liquidity challenges.
NSSA declined the proposal since Metbank had previously defaulted in a US$25,3 million loan. Mupfumira allegedly disregarded all that and went to give James Matiza instructions to seriously consider; Metbank’s loan request and process a loan of US$15million to settle the bank’s US$5 million depositors credit and US$10 million for use in housing projects and bring feedback the following day.
However, no minutes on the meeting were recorded.
NSSA resolved to decline the US$15 million loan request after considering Metbank’s risk status, However, Mupfumira and Masoka allegedly forced NSSA to purchase Metbank properties worth US$4 908 050 that they had not intended to buy.
She will be back in court on January 25.