by Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The Prosecutor-General’s office is still deliberating on the Constitutional Court decision that paved way for the private prosecution of Telecel Zimbabwe (Private) Limited shareholder Jane Mutasa on fraud charges involving more than $1,7 million in airtime recharge vouchers scandal. The PG’s office declined to prosecute Mutasa on the grounds of lack of incriminatory evidence.
This prompted the matter to spill into the courts with Telecel challenging the prosecution’s decision.
In an interview yesterday, the Prosecutor-General Mr Johannes Tomana, said his office was still considering the decision of the Constitutional Court, which upheld the Supreme Court ruling ordering the prosecution to issue a certificate for private prosecution.
“I have nothing much to say at the moment. We are considering the decision of the Constitutional Court,” said Mr Tomana without elaborating.
Telecel lawyer Advocate Isaiah Mureriwa, has since written to the prosecution authority’s lawyer Mr Alex Mambosasa demanding the certificate in terms of the Supreme Court order.
According to the court order the PG’s office was given five days to issue out the certificate but this was put on hold after the PG’s office challenged the decision at the Constitutional Court.
The State also filed another application at the Supreme Court seeking to stay the court’s decision until the Constitutional Court determined its application.
According to the letter dated October 8, 2014, reminded the PG’s office that it was bound by the Supreme Court order to issue out the certificate to enable the company proceed with Mutasa’s prosecution.
“As ruled by the Constitutional Court . . . your application to challenge Supreme Court judgment SC1/2014 was dismissed with costs. You are thus bound by the order of the Supreme Court and accordingly we write to demand that your client must kindly provide us with the requisite certificate of nolle prosequi in terms of the Supreme Court,” read the letter signed by Adv Mureriwa.
“In terms of the Supreme Court order, your client was bound to issue the said certificate within five days of the ruling.
“The ruling was on Tuesday the 28th of January 2014 and as such your days lapsed on Wednesday the 5th of February 2014.”
The Constitutional Court has cleared the way for Mutasa to face prosecution after it threw out the prosecution challenge to the Supreme Court ruling last week. The court is yet to give its reasons for dismissing the PG’s application.
Mutasa was arrested in 2010 along with the company’s commercial director, Naguib Omar, for allegedly stealing the airtime vouchers worth over $1,7million.
The PG’s office argued that it declined to issue out the certificate because investigations revealed that no offence had been committed.
It argued that the Supreme Court decision violated certain provisions of the Constitution in that it sought to interfere with PG’s office’s constitutional function to decline to issue a certificate in a case where facts of the matter did not point to the commission of an offence.
Early this year, the Supreme Court gave Telecel the nod to prosecute Mutasa when it ruled that a private corporate was entitled at law to institute private prosecution and slammed the PG’s office for failing to exercise its statutory powers on a proper legal footing. Herald
COMMENTS
This terrible women has been stealing properties and money from innocent old people. You are going to get what you deserve. Jane wiped an old couple of everything they ever had. Today they cannot even buy tea bags because this women stole money property and everything they owned. What was their mistake they gave a her job and promoted her to director. She grabbed everything.