THREE former Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) top officials are set to face trial over abuse of State funds and corruption following the dismissal of their application for permanent stay of prosecution by the full Constitutional Court (ConCourt) bench last week.
CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
The trio of former CIO deputy director of administration Lovemore Itai Mukandi, chief transport officer Nelson Yeukai Mubvumbi and chief administration officer David Nyabondo had appealed to the ConCourt challenging their prosecution on a 14-year-old fraud case.
The former CIO operatives had argued their case, raising questions of infringement of their constitutional rights to a fair trial within a reasonable time.
“It is in the interest of justice that they be put on trial for the allegations they face. In the circumstances of this case, none of them has been able to point any prejudice that would ensue, with the exception of the delay which has been accepted to be presumptively prejudicial,” said Justice Anne-Mary Gowora in her judgment with the concurrence of the rest of the ConCourt bench.
According to the court papers, the three were charged alongside a director and shareholder in African Timbers and Builder Supplier, Mohamed Ahmed Meman, on allegations of swindling the State of ZW$16 773 784 in a botched housing construction scheme.
