Justice Pisirayi Kwenda will sentence Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu after convicting them of fraud.
According to H
Metro, he said : “He (Mpofu) said all he did was in his capacity as a director
and that he was directed to do so. So there was no further proof needed by the
State. The second accused Chimombe argued that his case was ‘strange because
the State closed its case without mentioning how he was involved in the
misrepresentation.’
“The second
accused person strenuously denied he had much involvement in this scheme.
“We were faced
with a situation where we had a threatened case against his denial. We must
resolve that factual dispute, and that can be rectified by reference to
testimony of witnesses. The witnesses John Bhasera and Nhundurwa said they
would attend meetings together.
“We, therefore,
found that he participated. We did not find his explanation convincing. If he
said he attended meetings with Nhundurwa, that would have nothing to do with
lobbying for an award for Blackdeck because it had already been awarded.”
Justice Kwenda
rejected the claim that Chimombe attended meetings merely to resolve disputes
as a member of the Economic Empowerment Group. “There was clearly another
reason for this. Why would he be there to attend a business meeting?
“It shows he
had a mandate. We found that the version of the first accused person – that
Chimombe was co-opted to represent the company – is binding. To that extent, we
found that the second accused was controlling the affairs of the entity. His
liability flows from his participation.”
COMMENTS