The trial of former cabinet minister Prisca Mupfumira got off to a false start yesterday with her lawyer informing the court that she was mentally ill and had been instructed by a renowned psychiatrist to only take a trial or court proceedings after a maximum of three months.
Mupfumira’s lawyer, Charles Chinyama, made these assertions to deputy chief magistrate Chrispen Mberewere in a bid to have the matter postponed to April next year.
“On the last postponement I indicated that Mupfumira requires adequate time to recover from the surgery she went through after she was granted bail, and there is a letter from Dr. B. Masunda showing that she is not yet fit to stand trial.
Immediately after release from custody, she started suffering from mental depressions. “Mangezi W, a renowned psychiatrist has recommended that any trial or proceedings be postponed for a period between 6 weeks to 3 months so, on normal calculations, the trial can only start in April next year.
She is not mentally fit to stand trial or to give full instructions,” said Chinyama. Chinyama also sought a postponement on the basis that the state gave them papers on Friday, and didn’t have adequate time to get ready for trial.
Mupfumira’s alleged accomplice, Ngoni Masoka who was represented by Farai Mushoriwa, also reiterated the impropriety to commence trial as he received the papers last Friday and required adequate time to come up with a defense outline.
In response to the applications, prosecutor Clemente Chimbari says Mupfumira’s alleged health reports have to be verified by doctors who should be summoned or in fact, she should be examined by an independent government psychiatrist who can then verify that indeed she is medically ill and cannot stand trial.
The matter was remanded to December 13 and on that date, the court shall hear evidence from her said doctors to verify the medical reports.
The State alleged that sometime in 2013, Met-bank defaulted in payment of US$25,3 million investment loan maturity to NSSA that was secured with properties worth around 32 million. NSSA then took over Metbank properties they held as surety to a value of US$25, 3 million on a purchase/sale agreement.
As a result, NSSA remained to hold Metbank properties worth around 7 million after sealing the 25,3 million investment loan. As a result of the default, NSSA classified Metbak as a high-risk client that was not worth trading with and in December 2014, Mupfumira was appointed Minister of Public Service and on December 15, five days after her appointment, she held a meeting with Metbank officials Ozias Bvute, Enoch Kamushinda, and Belmont Ndebele at the ministry offices where no minutes were recorded.
On December 16, 2014, Mupfumira and Masoka held another meeting with then NSSA general manager James Matiza and the Met-bank officials at the ministry offices.
Mupfumira instructed NSSA to financially bail out Metbank to the tune of US$15 million as it was facing liquidity challenges.
NSSA declined the proposal since Metbank had previously defaulted in a US$25,3 million loan advance. Mupfumira disregarded all that and went on to give Matiza instruction to seriously consider Metbank’s loan request and process a loan of US$15million to settle the bank’s US$5 million depositors credit and US$10 million for use in housing projects, and bring feedback the following day.
However, no minutes on the meeting were recorded. NSSA resolved to decline the US$15 million loan request after considering Metbank’s risk status, however, Mupfumira and Masoka forced NSSA to purchase Metbank properties worth $4 908 050 that they had not intended to purchase.