Exam cheat suspect granted bail

THE police officer allegedly found in possession of a leaked question paper for a university law exam, Police Provincial Intelligence Officer Vigai Maunganidze, was yesterday granted bail of $50 000.

Maunganidze is charged with violation of the Data Protection Act.

His lawyer, Mrs Josephine Sande-Chimombe, had told the court when applying for bail that Maunganidze was a senior member in the police who knew the implications of violating court orders and would not interfere with witnesses.

But the State, led by Mr Ephraim Zinyandu, opposed bail, saying Maunganidze was likely to interfere with witnesses and investigations as he had already done this.

He led evidence from Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Farai Chakavarika, who told the court that Maunganidze already attempted to destroy evidence.

“He told a witness to delete the data from his phone,” he said. “The witnesses are confirming that he advised them to destroy or delete the copies of the papers he had sent to them. A witness, Farai Madombi, told us that he told them to delete the papers.”

According to the State, Maunganidze is a second year Bachelor of Substantive Laws student at the University of Zimbabwe.

It is alleged that on October 31, he obtained a copy of the examination paper of administrative and local government law for second-year students.

The paper was supposed to be written on November 3 and he was set to sit for the exam.

Allegations are that Maunganidze shared the leaked paper with Farai Madombi, a third-year student for the same degree at UZ, by forwarding a copy through WhatsApp.

On November 1, Mr Madombi sat for his company law exam from 2pm to 5pm and while in the examination hall other students were caught cheating and were disqualified.

After the examination, a classmate of Mr Madombi, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, started discussing the paper and complained about people who cheated in exams, promising to meet the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development to expose them.

Mr Madombi, who had the leaked second year exam paper in administrative and local government law, then allegedly forwarded the paper to Mr Mugwadi’s WhatsApp number.

The court heard that Mr Mugwadi immediately notified the University of Zimbabwe authorities and UZ then issued a notice cancelling the exam.

Maunganidze is expected back in court on January 6 for his routine remand.