AN Arda Estate employee based at Sedgwick Cattle Ranch in Tsholotsho has been acquitted on a charge of defrauding his employer of cattle worth $13 632,81.
BY SILAS NKALA
Fortune Mtetwa (36), who was Arda Estate project manager, was freed last week by Bulawayo magistrate, Gladmore Mushowe, who ruled that the State failed to prove a prima facie case against him.
Mtetwa told the court that his former employer fabricated the fraud charges when he stormed the parastatal’s offices on September 30, 2015 demanding his terminal benefits.
He said he was never physically involved in the receipting of the cattle sold by the estate. Mtetwa said three cattle were bought by Newman Ndlovu at a total cost of $1 720, while the other five beasts were used to pay Peter Tall for the repair of an Arda vehicle for $2 750. He said all the transactions and clearances were documented and presented the receipts and police clearance as proof.