HARARE magistrate Clever Tsikwa has postponed the matter of fugitive prominent lawyer Wilson Manase and his co-accused Marshal Shadaya, who are being accused of US$3 million fraud.
Shadaya, who was alone in the dock, was told by Tsikwa that the State will finalise its papers for indictment of the two on April 17.
It the second time that Manase has not reported to court without forwarding any reason, raising fears that he is undermining the authority of the lower court.
However, members of the police CID Commercial Crimes Division (CID CCD) overshadowed the case after they tried to arrest the complainant for a yet to be disclosed offence.
The complainant, Langton Nyatsambo, was whisked away by the CCD officers just after leaving the court gallery.
The allegations against Manase and Shadaya are that in 1995, Nyatsambo married the late Fiona Dambudzo Shadaya under the Marriages Act [Chapter 5:11] and the couple had a child, Nyasha Nyatsambo.
During the subsistence of their marriage, the couple acquired several properties, which were registered in both their names, with some properties registered in Fiona’s name.
However, in February 2009, Fiona fell ill and passed away.
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It is alleged that the accused conspired to defraud Nyatsambo by creating and submitting to the High Court false documents, including a fake will, divorce order, marriage certificate and death certificate.
These documents allegedly falsely indicated that Fiona was single at the time of her death.
According to the allegations, Marshal, who had access to information relating to the couple, connived with Manase who then acted as the executor of Fiona’s estate and presented the fabricated documents to the Master of the High Court to facilitate the fraudulent registration of the estate without Nyatsambo’s knowledge or consent.
They allegedly submitted the counterfeit will, divorce order and distribution accounts to the High Court of Zimbabwe and the Master of the High Court.
The documents, however, were found to contain discrepancies.
The will presented to the High Court was signed on October 5, 2008, while the one submitted to the Master of the High Court was signed a month later, on November 5, 2008.
The divorce order submitted to the Master of the High Court, which was purported to be between Nyatsambo and Fiona was fabricated.
Additionally, the distribution account submitted to the Master of the High Court listed a distribution balance of US$4 978 956,98, while the amount presented to the High Court was US$2 845 958,80.
The fraud came to light when Nyatsambo sought to claim his late wife’s estate and discovered that the documents filed by the accused made it appear as if he had divorced Fiona in 1996.
Nyatsambo checked with the High Court and he discovered that the documents in question had never been granted by the court.
He reported the matter to the police.
