Justice Prevails: Gokwe Nembudziya Legislator Mayor Wadyajena Freed of Fraud Charges
Justice Mayor Wadyajena was jointly charged with Cotton Company of Zimbabwe bosses Pius Manamike, Maxmore Njanji, Chiedza Danha and Fortunate Molai for allegedly misappropriating a mouth-watering US $5 834 000 meant for importing bale ties. The company shares a similar name with an entity from Mauritius ostensibly to mislead Cottco.
Justice Prevails: Gokwe Nembudziya Legislator Mayor Wadyajena Freed of Fraud Charges
In the latest twist to his fraud case, Gokwe Nembudziya legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena was removed from remand by a Harare Magistrate on Monday.
The Zanu-PF legislator who was accused of fraud was removed from remand after a Harare magistrate ruled that the State has inadequate evidence against Wadyajena as the State arrested him to investigate.
•Battered & Bruised: Watch Wadyajena A Former Shadow Of Himself Since Arrest
Justice Mayor Wadyajena was jointly charged with Cotton Company of Zimbabwe bosses Pius Manamike, Maxmore Njanji, Chiedza Danha and Fortunate Molai for allegedly misappropriating a mouth-watering US$5 834 000 meant for importing bale ties.
The damning charges included fraud, money laundering and concealing a transaction from principal charges but the Magistrate decided against proceeding with the case due to insufficient evidence. In his ruling, Harare Regional Magistrate Mr Taurai Manwere ruled that there was an unnecessary delay in completing investigations by the State.
The State alleged that Wadyajena and his co-accused opened a shelf company called Pierpont Moncroix Zimbabwe in January 2019. The company shares a similar name with an entity from Mauritius ostensibly to mislead Cottco.
Manamike and Njanji gave the green light for the acquisition of 3 200 000 92-inch special high carbon bale ties for the 2019 ginning season after Cottco raised an internal requisition stores voucher in March of the same year.
The tender worth US$2 528 000 was awarded to Pierpont Moncroix Zimbabwe under the impression that Pierpont Moncroix Mauritius was going to supply the bale ties to Cottco. The company won the tender despite it being the most expensive.
Instead of purchasing the bale ties, Justice Mayor Wadyajena and his co-accused engaged Giant Equipment LLC from the United States of America with Manamike authorising payment of US$1 896 000 as a 75 per cent down payment based on Molai’s advice.
While no bale ties were delivered by Giant Equipment LLC, 22 Freightliner Horse trucks were delivered by Giant Equipment in 2019 and 2020 for Mayor Logistics (Pvt) Limited, a company owned by Wadyajena.
The post Justice Prevails: Gokwe Nembudziya Legislator Mayor Wadyajena Freed of Fraud Charges appeared first on iHarare News.
