By Own Correspondent| It never rains but pours for suspended University of Zimbabwe (UZ) vice-chancellor Levi Nyagura who was on Friday hauled before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts facing 27 fresh counts of criminal abuse of office for allegedly awarding a tree-cutting tender to three different companies owned by one person.

Nyagura is being charged along with UZ director of works Lazarus Mabvura (42) and James Chipendo (36).

The trio were granted $500 bail each when they appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa.

The complainant is the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, represented by chief executive officer Nyasha Chizu.

UZ, through Mabvura, requested for quotations from tree cutting firms to cut 5 trees in front of the northern wing of Manfred Hodson compound.

On August 23, 2015, three companies, namely Frenzy Investments, Tynwald Sawmills and Bright Tree Cutters, responded by submitting quotations to Mabvura.

The State alleges Frenzy Investments and Tynwald Sawmills are owned by the same directors, namely Morgan Manyemba, Ruzisai Nechipani and Florence Mukundu, while Bright Tree Cutter is not registered.

The State alleges on November 6, 2015, Mabvura connived with Nyagura and awarded the services to Tynwald Sawmills without soliciting for quotations from at least three competitive bidders.

The State alleges the same companies were awarded more than 27 contracts from 2015 to 2018 which were worth thousands of dollars.-Newsday