via Police summon Pasuwa – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 17, 2016
THE police have summoned national football team coach Kalisto Pasuwa for an interview, as part of their investigations into football match-fixing allegations, which have been raised against, among others, Zifa executive committee member, Edzai Kasinauyo and former association chief executive officer, Henrietta Rushwaya.
BY MICHAEL KARIATI
The police had been trying to get hold of Pasuwa since last Friday, but the Warriors technical head was out of the country at the time.
Yesterday Pasuwa confirmed he had been summoned to Harare Central Police Station to give evidence in the match-fixing scam, which is alleged to have targeted the Warriors’ 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Swaziland next week.
“I am told that the police have been looking for me since Friday, but I was not around,” he said yesterday. “The chief executive officer (Jonathan Mashingaidze) has just called to tell me that I should go and see them as per their request.”
Pasuwa said he would visit the police this morning.
There are allegations Zimbabwe’s Chan tournament matches in Rwanda might have been manipulated as well.
It has been established that Pasuwa and goalkeeper, Tatenda Mukuruva are some of the key witnesses in the investigation where Rushwaya is accused of being the kingpin of the latest match-fixing operation to hit Zimbabwean football.
Zifa made a police report on Thursday last week and implicated former Warriors coach, Ian Gorowa and Pasuwa’s assistant coach, Nation Dube together with Rushwaya.
The alleged cartel is also said to have arranged the fixing of South Africa’s Premier League matches involving Polokwane City, Pretoria University and Bloemfontein Celtic.
Rushwaya has denied the allegations, claiming she was working undercover to expose match-fixing, a defence Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa has refused to accept.
The Warriors are pencilled to play Swaziland in back-to-back matches with the first game in Mbabane on March 25 and the other at the National Sports Stadium on Easter Monday three days later.
Allegations are that the alleged cartel had targeted Mukuruva as well as defenders Eric Chipeta and Costa Nhamoinesu to let in goals and manufacture Zimbabwe defeats in both matches.
Both Swaziland and the Warriors are on four points after two games and defeats for the Warriors, as allegedly plotted, would have seen Zimbabwe crash out of the 2017 Afcon finals to be hosted by Gabon. The other teams in the group are Guinea and Malawi. The suspects also face arrest in South Africa, as the police in that country are also seized with the case.
Zifa volunteered information, which it gathered from its witnesses that include Leroy Waguta, who claims to have been a close associate of Rushwaya.
Rushwaya and player agent, Kudzi Shaba also face charges from the Asiagate scandal.
Zifa believe Rushwaya recruited her alleged accomplices and is the key link to their sponsors, who are of Asian origin.
The association’s key witness supplied Zifa with text messages, photographs and emails that implicate the suspects and he also claims to have been employed as a runner, communicating with and paying players. Zifa claim to have loads of evidence, which also implicated South Africa-based Zimbabwean players goalkeeper George Chigova and defender Partson Jaure.
Chiyangwa on Tuesday travelled to South Africa, where he was scheduled to meet the South African Football Association leadership, as well as that country’s Sports minister Fikile Mbalula over the match-fixing issue.
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