HIGH Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi has ordered the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to release 25 trucks that were impounded from former Gokwe-Nembudziya legislator and businessman Justice Mayor Wadyajena after he was arrested sometime in 2022.
Justice Chitapi, who only read the operative part of the judgment yesterday, said Zacc should release all the property confiscated from Wadyajena after being served with the order.
Zacc confiscated the property alleging they were ill-gotten wealth before the court removed Wadyajena from remand for lack of evidence.
He was arrested together with former Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) officials, Pius Manamike, Maxmore Njanji, who were released by the court.
They were facing fraud and money laundering charges involving US$5 million.
Through a warrant of search and seizure in terms of Section 49(b) ARWS 50(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07], Zacc confiscated some of Wadyajena’s property which included the trucks, a Lamborghini (SUV) vehicle and BMW X6 vehicle.
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While applying for removal from remand, Wadyajena’s lawyer Oliver Marwe told the court that his clients, who are all businesspersons, were being inconvenienced by consistently coming to court when there is no progress on investigations into the case.
Magistrate Taurai Manuwere then removed them from remand saying the State will proceed by way of summons.