Former Finance minister Ignatius Chombo’s bid for the temporary release for his passport has hit a brick wall once again after a Harare magistrate dismissed his application.

Chombo made an application to the clerk of the court to release his passport from the 5th – 26th of this month so that he can travel to South Africa for medical check-up.

In dismissing his application the magistrate ruled that Chombo through his defence counsel deliberately omitted to mention one of the cases in which he was given a trial date set for October saying if he was to cross borders, he is likely to abscond.

Chombo is facing a raft of charges ranging from corruption, abuse of office and fraud. Among some of the charges, Chombo is accused of allocating residential stands to illegal settlers at Whitecliff Farm in Harare before demanding and receiving a bribe of a 3 712-square metre stand from the landowner to help remove them. The landowner, Eddies Pfugari Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd, lost property worth $200 million in the process.