By A Correspondent| Harare property developer is seeking to have State Prosecutor Michael Reza recused from handling his cases saying he has vested interests in all cases where the complainant is controversial businessman Ken Sharpe’s aide Tatiana Aleshina.
Through his lawyer, Advocate Tinmudaishe Chinyoka, Katsimberis who is embroiled in a long running legal battle with his former business partner Sharpe, said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) allocates all cases where Aleshina is the complainant to Reza.
Aleshina is also a complainant in a case where she accuses Citizens Coalition for Change legislator Tendai Biti of assaulting her outside the Harare Magistrates Court.
In his submissions, Chinyoka said Reza should be recused from Katsimberis’ case because of his vested interests as shown by his handling of all cases by Aleshina.
“When I was going through this, I thought there seems to be a pattern in the NPA whereby if the complainant is someone called Tatiana Aleshina or Pokugara Properties the Prosecutor is always my learned friend and in one of the cases where they were accused persons my learned friend took over from another Prosecutor for use of withdrawing charges against these people.
“The law requires that I make an application for my learned friend to recuse himself or be recused from this case,” said Chinyoka.
Chinyoka also accused Reza of facilitating for the arrest of a state witness in a case involving Aleshina and Sharpe’s Pokugara Properties, Roy Nyabvure while he was still testifying in cases that are still pending before the courts.
“An event happened in between the last time we were here which required that I make a different application, this event is that my brother the prosecutor (Reza) facilitated the arrest of one of the witnesses we intend on calling in this case.
“He is also a witness in the other three cases with the same facts. My learned friend on the 14th of October 2022, wrote a letter to the police which letter caused the police to arrest this witness.
“In fact this letter was saying he is no longer a witness, because what happened is, the police called him to talk about this case so his lawyers wrote to the police saying he is still testifying so do you mean to interfere with the witness.
“The police then wrote to NPA to check if this was correct and my learned friend wrote to Police to say it’s not true he has finished testifying but the truth is that he has only done one case and there are three remaining, in fact he was arrested here at court,” said Chinyoka.
Reza is not new to interference in matters before the court. In 2018 he wrongfully texted Advocate Tabani Mpofu describing a Harare Magistrate who had ruled in favour of an application to have Biti’s trial livestreamed as “very stupid”.
It later emerged that the message was meant for Tabani Mpofu who was Head of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU).