Regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje on Tuesday convicted businessman Washington Ferera of perjury with intent to deceive the High Court after he presented a fake agreement of sale in a land purchase deal.
Ferera (41) pleaded not guilty during the trial but Mambanje sentenced him to seven years in prison, with one year suspended on condition of good behaviour.
The magistrate ruled that Ferera’s defence was unconvincing, citing inconsistencies in the timeline of the alleged offence.
Mambanje further found that State witness Norman Mugiya was credible and had provided evidence showing that Ferera and his wife — who is still at large — instructed Mugiya to process title deeds that were backdated to facilitate the land acquisition.
Prosecutor Cecilia Mashingaidze told the court that between January and March 2018, Ferera and Scholastic Muringai, with intent to deceive the High Court, signed a backdated fake agreement of sale for Lot 358 of Prospect, measuring 25.1499 hectares, to Schomet Industrial Holdings, a private company. Ferera purported to represent the seller, while Muringai represented the purported buyer.
The State proved that through this misrepresentation, the High Court and other relevant authorities transferred the title deeds from Shomet to Maride Investments Trust through a court order without the use of the original title deeds.
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It was established that Muringai attached the backdated fake agreement of sale to her founding affidavit in case HC2670/2018, which she filed with the High Court.
Shomet suffered potential prejudice amounting to US$4,200,000 as a result of the misrepresentation to the High Court.