BY CHARLES LAITON
FORMER Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Priscah Mupfumira (pictured), who is detained at Chikurubi Female Prison on charges of swindling the National Social Security Authority of over US$95 million, has been denied bail by the High Court and will remain behind bars pending her trial.
High Court judge Justice Erica Ndewere said there were compelling reasons justifying the incarceration of the ex-Cabinet minister.
She also set aside the certificate that had been granted by the Prosecutor-General (PG)’s Office seeking to have Mupfumira detained for 21 days pending investigations into the matter.
Justice Ndewere’s judgment was read by Justice Philda Muzofa, who was sitting in the bails court.
Mupfumira, who is also the Senator for Makonde, was remanded in custody in July this year after acting chief magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi upheld PG Kumbirai Hodzi’s certificate.
But in her bail submissions, through her lawyer Advocate Lewis Uriri, instructed by Chinyama and Partners, Mupfumira maintained that the evidence of the State against her was weak, adding “it is fanciful and porous”.
Her application was opposed by prosecutor Sharon Fero, who told the court that there was overwhelming evidence against her and also said she was likely to abscond in the event that the court admitted her to bail.
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Fero further told the court that the State had also faced some difficulties in arresting her since she kept evading the police and that she has a personal CBZ Bank account with numbers, in which monies from suspicious transactions were directly deposited into.
In his submissions, Uriri had urged the court not to lose sight of the fact that Mupfumira did not try to flee the jurisdiction of the local courts, even though she had prior knowledge of the investigations that were being conducted against her. His submissions, however, did not find favour with the judge.
