Katsimberis in fraudulent building plan scam

HARARE property developer, Georgios Katsimberis, has been dragged to court for allegedly duping a client by using a fraudulently certified building plan and substandard material which led to the demolition of a building by the City of Harare.

Yesterday, Katsimberis who was in the company of his lawyer, former Finance minister Tendai Biti, presented himself at the Harare Magistrates Court for trial, but the matter failed to start since he had not been supplied with court papers.

However, Katsimberis was then supplied with the relevant documents by the prosecution to enable him to prepare for a new trial date on August 19, 2020.

According to the State papers, the complainant in the matter is Pokugara Properties (Pvt) Ltd represented by its finance manager, Simbarashe Kadye.

The State alleges that on June 15, 2016, Pokugara Properties, through

Kadye, entered into a joint venture agreement with Katsimberis for the construction of houses at stand number 19559, in Borrowdale, Harare.

Katsimberis later produced stamped architectural plans for Pokugara Properties purporting that the said architectural plans had been approved by the City of Harare and also that he (Katsimberis) had been given the green light to commence construction at the site.

Pokugara Properties representative is said to have initially taken it in good faith that the stamped plans presented to him by Katsimberis were genuine.

Apparently, Katsimberis failed to perform according to the contract, leading to the cancellation of the agreement on January 11, 2018.

The State alleges that upon due diligence and inspection of the model house which had been constructed by Katsimberis, it was discovered that the type of materials used in the construction was prohibited and also that its construction had never been supervised by the engineers at the City of Harare and that Katsimberis had concealed the information.

However, the State alleges that Kadye then made enquiries with the City of Harare to establish whether Katsimberis’ “approved plans” were genuine.

He was informed that the stamp and signature on the plans were not genuine and were not in the City of Harare’s records.

The City of Harare, through the Director of Works, indicated to Kadye that Katsimberis’ plans had not been circulated in the council’s relevant departments for approval as was the norm.

As a result, the City of Harare then ordered the building to be demolished in 2018, arguing that it had been erected without approval and that it had been constructed using substandard materials.

This whole saga led to Pokugara Properties suffering potential prejudice in the sum of US$883 728 and had to start afresh, derailing the project by two years.

The matter is pending.