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Oilgate: Disciplinary hearing adjourned

News
THE disciplinary hearing of CMED (Pvt) Limited fuels manager Brian Manjengwa was on Tuesday adjourned to tomorrow after his lawyers requested additional information to prepare their defence.

THE disciplinary hearing of CMED (Pvt) Limited fuels manager Brian Manjengwa, who has been linked to the botched $2,7 million fuel deal, was on Tuesday adjourned to tomorrow after his lawyers requested additional information to prepare their defence.

NDAMU SANDU

Manjengwa was suspended last week in connection with the matter. At Tuesday’s hearing, Manjengwa’s lawyers Chakanyuka & Associates wanted to know the criteria used to select the disciplinary committee chaired by lawyer Mercy Gwaunza, Martin Simbi and Tapiwanashe Kujinga.

The lawyers said Manjengwa should have been charged in terms of the company’s code of conduct.

Initially, CMED had charged Manjengwa under the company’s code of conduct, but changed it to Statutory Instrument (SI) 156 of 2006, saying executives who were supposed to hear the matter were conflicted.

The lawyers also requested Manjengwa’s copy of employment contract and the comprehensive report by the Sobusa Gula-Ndebele board of inquiry into how CMED was fleeced of $2,7 million by a fuel supplier, First Oil.

The lawyers also alleged that their client was innocent since he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the case by suspended managing director Davison Mhaka.

Manjengwa faces charges of gross incompetence or inefficiency in the performance of his work in terms of Section 4 (f) of the SI 15 of 2006 for failing to carry out a due diligence exercise on the state of First Oil. He also faces charges of disregarding a CMED board resolution to purchase bulk fuel from a company which had the fuel in Zimbabwe.

CMED alleged that Manjengwa had facilitated the fraud by jointly “authorising the release of the $2,7 million on the pretext that you had done a due diligence on availability of the fuel at NOIC”. It turned out that there was no fuel at Msasa.

First Oil won the bid to supply fuel on the strength that it was offering the cheapest price per litre of $1,21 than three other suppliers, but failed to fulfil the contract.