ACTING Prosecutor-General Nelson Mutsonziwa has lost a bid to seize 15 vehicles and two houses belonging to Enmore Makarichi on the basis that they are crime proceeds.
High Court judge Justice Benjamin Chikowero struck off the roll Mutsonziwa’s application for civil forfeiture for being defective.
Makarichi had objected to the application arguing that affidavits supporting the application were defective in that they misrepresented the office of the commissioner.
They were signed by a former police officer, but were bearing a magistrate’s stamp.
The court found that the stamp misrepresented the office of the commissioner and was likely to cause confusion.
“In a nutshell, care should have been taken in composing the supporting affidavits and in ensuring that they were properly deposed to. The dates and places of such depositions should have been clearly reflected as well as the respective identities of the commissioners of oaths and the offices or capacities of the persons in terms of which they acted as commissioners of oaths.
“What was placed before me as supporting affidavits fell far short of legal requirements. They were not affidavits at all. Without the supporting affidavits, which I have found to be invalid, the application itself becomes fatally defective,” Justice Chikowore ruled.
The Home Affairs minister is required to notify every appointment or cancellation of appointment of a person as a justice of the peace and commissioner of oaths through a publication in the Government Gazette.
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He said considering the significance of an affidavit, it was vital that the person who commissions it be a commissioner of oaths.
“The commissioner in question was evidently a police constable, but the stamp that was used was that of a magistrate,” said the judge before throwing out the application.
He then ordered that the application be struck off the roll and slapped the PG with costs.
