Wadyajena gets green light to recover fleet
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for businessman Mayor Wadyajena to enforce a high Court judgment allowing him to get back a fleet of haulage trucks and a top of the range Lamborghini seized from his company by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
The ruling was made on a legal technicality, underlining the National Prosecution Authority’s (NPA) non-compliance with Rule 55 (5) of the Supreme Court Rules (2018) that required payment of Wadyajena’s security costs, before prosecuting the appeal.
The NPA was appealing against the high Court decision.
Since the authority did not furnish the registrar of the court with proof of payment, the appeal was deemed abandoned and dismissed in terms of Subrule (6) of Rule 55.
The Supreme Court has since told the NPA of its decision to reject the appeal.
“Reference is made to the civil appeal, which you filed on Tuesday May 14, 2024. It is noted that you did not comply with Rule 55(55) (5) of the Supreme Court rules (2018) with regards to payment of security costs,” the court said.
Mr Wadyajena can enforce the high Court judgment to recover his fleet of 23 tonne haulage trucks plus a Lamborghini SUV held in August 2022 when he and five others were facing charges of defrauding the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe of US$5,8 million.
The charges were dropped last year before plea and the high Court ruled yesterday that in any case the trucks had not been held lawfully since September 2022 since the authorities did not apply for an extension to the laid-down maximum of 30 days before the initial 30 days granted in August 2022 ended.
The former Gokwe-Nembudziya Member of Parliament had been charged along with Cottco bosses, who included Pious Manamike, Maxmore Njanji, Fortunate Molai and Chiedza Danha.