HARARE regional magistrate Clever Tsikwa last week issued a warrant of arrest for South African businessman Jeremy Sanford after he skipped court over charges of allegedly defrauding Trauma Centre Hospital of cash and property worth $5 million.
CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
Sanford is chief executive officer of South Africa-based Sable Mining, which briefly took over Trauma Centre Hospital in Harare before the courts overturned the arrangement and handed it back to its original owner Vivek Solanki.
Sanford’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa had initially challenged the issuing of a warrant of arrest for her client, but the court dismissed the application.
Mtetwa argued that Sanford, who is being charged alongside Peter Annesley, Mavis Mushonga and Paul Stevenson, was out of the country and had not been properly served with summons, but the State dismissed the assertion arguing the summons were properly served.
The court eventually postponed the matter to January 7 next year for trial.
The four suspects were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Zimbabwe between December last year and February this year.
The State alleges that Sanford, who did not have a link with Solanki, was hired by Andrew Groves, the British director of African Medical Investments (AMI) to work with former Autoband Investments — t/a Trauma Centre — director Mushonga, to defraud the hospital.
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It is alleged during the period extending from July 2010 to September last year, Sanford, Mushonga and Stevenson wrote a fraudulent letter purporting Solanki’s manager and sole signatory Zarina Dudhia had resigned from the hospital and that there was a board resolution to that effect.
Using the alleged fraudulent letter, they made an application to Stanbic Bank for change of signatories, which was granted after which they withdrew cash from different hospital bank accounts.
After dismissing Dudhia, it is alleged the four accused stole company documents, trust deeds, title deeds for the hospital under Streamsleigh Investments, $200 000 cash, hospital equipment, furniture, three ambulances, five vehicles and 26 computers all valued at $5 million.
Annesley also allegedly misrepresented to the Registrar of Companies and appointed himself to the board of Streamsleigh Investments, another Solanki property firm, and operated the medical centre under AMI Hospital before he was arrested.
