The major shareholder of CAPS Holdings, owner of FCA Motors and Western Union local franchise holder, Frederick Mtandah, and CAPS Pharmaceuticals general manager Justice Majaka are set to return to work following the scrapping of their bail conditions last month.
Mtandahs lawyer Jonathan Samukange told provincial magistrate, Kudakwashe Jarabini his client would resume work next week.
I would like to inform the court and the State that my client would be going back to work next week since the bail conditions were scrapped and he can now continue with his operations as the owner of the company, he said.
Prosecutor Obi Mabahwana, who was expected to respond to an application for refusal of further remand by Mtandah and Majaka, initially sought postponement of the matter yesterday morning, saying he wanted more time to respond.
But his request was turned down by the court. The proceedings were later briefly adjourned to allow Mabahwana to consult.
When the court resumed, the State again submitted it could not respond to the application since the investigating officer had indicated he could not access the docket which was secured in a safe at an undisclosed location.
Samukange immediately responded, arguing the State was not telling the truth.
The State simply wants to buy time. It is talking about a dubious safe which does not exist and this is another application by the State meant to frustrate the proceedings, said the lawyer.
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However, magistrate Jarabini ruled in favour of the State and allowed the postponement of the matter to January 30 for continuation.
Mtandah and Majaka, who is represented by George Mhlanga, are contesting further remand of the case. The defence argued Mtandah as owner of 85% of shares in CAPS Holdings and as such being the owner, the State cannot fault him for conducting business in any way he wanted.
The two were arrested in November last year over an alleged $25 million fraud case.
The State alleges they applied for deregistration of 50 drug formulas from CAPS Holdings and subsequently registered them under CAPS International, an allegation they denied.
