TWO company directors, who are facing a more than US$1,5 million fraud charge involving a botched residential stands deal, were on Monday this week granted US$300 bail each.
Harare regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje remanded Lilan Chitanga (52) and Spencer Mabeka (45) to October 30 for routine remand.
The two accused persons are co-directors of Brickstone Builders and Contractors (Pvt) Limited, while the complainant is City of Harare housing and community services director.
Prosecutor Heather Muwokoto told the court that in 2001, the City of Harare approved the subdivision of a portion of land situated in Belvedere Ridge View into 52 residential stands under layout plan TP2F 2219/3, but the plan was not implemented.
The two, however, allegedly duped the City of Harare by allocating the land after they forged a distribution letter for approval of layout plan TP2F2291/3 dated April 20, 2021 and an offer letter for land under layout plan TP2F2219/3 dated April 22, 2021.
Both documents were purported to had been authored and signed by Local Government and Public Works ministry physical planning principal director Nathan Magadizire.
The court heard that the two forged another offer letter entitling their company to 14,4354 hectares of land under layout plan TP2F2219/3 dated December 15, 2015 purportedly authored and signed by Sibusiso Sithole as the housing director of City of Harare.
The duo invaded council land and engaged an agent to carry out land development for 52 residential stands measuring 2 000 square metres each.
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The alleged land baron then disregarded that these stands were illegally developed and advertised on a Properties and Classifieds website through an agent.
More than 45 unsuspecting land seekers contacted the agent, who led them to the duo and they paid for the stands amounts ranging from US$25 000 to US$40 000.
According to court documents, the City of Harare, after getting wind of this development, went to the site to demolish the illegal structures.
The court heard that the duo filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking a relief order to stop council from demolishing the structures as well as interdicting the local authority from evicting it from the said land.
Chitanga and Mabeka allegedly misrepresented to the court that they were legal owners of the said land after tendering a fake allocation letter dated April 21, 2021.
Verifications done by council with the National Housing ministry’s Department of Spatial Planning established that the allocation letter was fraudulent.
City of Harare is still trying to recover the invaded land.
The court heard that the unsuspecting buyers will lose more US$1,5 million since the City of Harare will repossess its land and allocate it to individuals on the housing waiting list.
