Bid to delay trial flops
ATTEMPTS by former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) board chairman Stanley Kazhanje and businessman Wicknell Chivayo to delay their trial over an alleged $10 000 bribe failed yesterday after the magistrate ordered the trial to proceed.
Intratrek, Chivayo and Kazhanje are jointly charged over an alleged $10 000 bribe Chivayo paid Kazhanje to influence him not to cancel a 100MW solar project tender awarded to Chivayo’s company, Intratrek Zimbabwe.
Kazhanje has already been sentenced to an effective one-year jail term for concealing the US$10 000 he received from Intratrek Zimbabwe, but is on bail pending the outcome of his appeal. The two gave notice for their application of exception to the charges, saying Kazhanje had already been tried for the same crime under the same facts. Kazhanje, through his lawyer Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, wanted the matter to be deferred to the first quarter of 2020 to allow the record to be transcribed and availed to them.
Advocate Lewis Uriri conceded to the same submissions, but added that an application of review of proceeding is still pending at the High Court and the court should wait for the determination. Prosecutor Mr Brain Vito accused the defence of using delaying tactics to stall trial.
“I am surprised that the accused are excepting to the charges for the second time. The impression is simply to delay proceedings,” said Mr Vito. He noted that an accused can plead that he has already been convicted of the offence, but that an application of review cannot stop court proceedings.” In his ruling magistrate Mr Christopher Maturure said it was unfortunate that an application was made on the verge of trial. But he found there was no need for counsel to refer to the record and that review applications do not stop court proceedings. So there was no basis for postponement and trial had to proceed.”
The trial was postponed to December 10.
Crime Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ( ZIMRA) has identified 433 vehicles suspected to have been smuggled into the country and has invited their respective owners to its offices for a verification exercise.
Top- of- the range vehicles that include, Toyota Landcruisers, BMWs, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota Hilux, Toyota Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Toyota Fortuner, Range Rovers, Isuzu, Landrover Discovery, Ford Rangers and Audi are dominating the hit list.
Others are, Nissan X Trail, Honda Fit, Toyota Runx, VW, Honda Airwave, Volvo, Toyota Allion and trailers.
ZIMRA launched the operation after discovering that several vehicles were being smuggled into the country without proper documentation.
In a statement, Zimra invited the owners to its loss control offices for a verification exercise.
“The Commissioner- General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is hereby notifying owners of the listed vehicles to visit Zimra Loss Control Offices at ZB Centre corner First Street and Kwame Nkrumah in Harare for vehicle registration verification.
“The vehicle owners are instructed to bring the vehicle together with all customs clearance documents pertaining to their vehicles not later than 23 November 2019,” reads part of the statement.
In an interview, Zimra head of corporate communications Mr Francis Chimanda said some information relating to the listed vehicles was missing in the vehicle database, calling for verification of the papers.
“There is missing information regarding the vehicles clearance and the verification process will bridge the gap,” he said.
He said those who fraudulently registered the vehicles will be dealt with in terms of the law.
“Customs laws and any other relevant legislation will be invoked and the necessary steps will be taken, subject to the findings of the exercise,” Mr Chimanda said.
The authority will soon release the numbers of motorists who would have complied. Of the 433 vehicles, 205 of them are registered while the rest are not.
The latest developments come after last month, several Zimra officials were implicated in cases of corruption, amid reports that the taxman was seeking to recover ill- gotten wealth to the tune $ 73,5 million from its employees.
Zimra was investigating 389 corruption cases involving its workers and several of them were exposed by a lifestyle audit carried out recently.