By Crime and Courts Reporter- By Crime and Courts Reporter – Affirmative Action Group and Zanu PF members Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu are languishing in remand prison for exposing how the 2023 elections were rigged.
The two have now approached the High Court for bail.
Chimombe and Mpofu are accused of fraud involving US$7 million under the Presidential Goat Scheme and have been in remand prison for over a month.
They were arrested for the goat project after leaking audios with controversial businessman Wicknell Chivhayo, complaining about sharing a loot from an election material tender awarded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) before the August 2023 polls.
Their lawyers filed an appeal at the High Court on Monday for bail pending trial.
They were recently denied bail by Harare magistrate Mrs. Marehwanazvo Gofa, who stated that the State had proven beyond reasonable doubt that they were not suitable candidates for bail as prospects of conviction were high.
Aggrieved by the remand court decision, the two, through lawyers Mr. Tapson Dzvetero and Ashley Mugiya, have exercised their right to appeal to the High Court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing misdirection on the part of the magistrate.
They contend that bail is a constitutional right and there were no compelling reasons to deny them freedom pending trial.
In her bail ruling last week, Mrs. Gofa noted that the two needed to offer a meaningful defense as to why they denied the charges against them, highlighting that they did not present a plausible defense.
The magistrate rejected Chimombe’s argument that all papers submitted for bidding were authentic and that their contract was still valid.
Chimombe failed to provide documentary evidence to prove that their company documents were legitimate.
As for Mpofu, the court ruled that his denial of allegations on the grounds that he was attending meetings at the Agriculture Ministry as the leader of the Economic Empowerment Group, not as part of Blackdeck (Pvt) Ltd, the company that won the goat supply tender, could not be substantiated since he failed to provide documents to support that defense.
The two were also found to have a propensity to interfere with State witnesses, supported by the press release they shared on social media during the pending investigations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission. Additionally, the court ruled that the two were a flight risk.
Prosecutor Mr. Anesu Chirenje alleged that Mpofu and Chimombe forged documents to win the tender for supplying goats under the Presidential Goat Scheme.
Investigations revealed that their company, Blackdeck (Pvt) Ltd, did not have a valid tax clearance, and the QR code and reference on the NSSA compliance certificate were issued to a different company.
Blackdeck was deregistered from the NSSA system in January 2016.
Acting on the misrepresentation and the assumption that the alleged forged documents were genuine, the Agriculture Ministry signed a contract with Blackdeck on November 16, 2021, for the supply and delivery of 632,001 goats valued at US$87.7 million.
Between April and June 2022, the Ministry transferred a total of Z$1.6 billion, equivalent to US$7,712,197, into the Blackdeck bank account.
The contract was canceled on August 29, 2022, after Chimombe and Mpofu supplied only 4,208 goats valued at US$331,445 and converted the remaining US$7,380,751 to their personal use.