ZANU PF central committee member Mike Chimombe has approached the courts challenging his placement on remand on fresh allegations of using a false document to acquire a streetlight tender worth more than US$9 million.
Chimombe, who is jointly charged with Moses Mpofu, yesterday appeared before Harare regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje. They are being represented by Tapson Dzvetero and Arshiel Mugiya.
Mugiya argued that there were no facts arising from the charges linking Chimombe to the commissioning of crime.
He said the State was trying to link Chimombe to the charges, but had failed.
Prosecutor Anesu Chirenje notified the court that he will file written submission to oppose Chimombe’s refusal of placement on remand application.
The matter was deferred to today for ruling.
It is the State’s case that in January this year, Harare City Council embarked on rehabilitation of streetlighting in preparation for the forthcoming Sadc summit.
The court heard that council invited bids and 11 companies responded, including Juluka Endo Joint Venture (Pvt) Ltd, a company co-owned by Mpofu.
The invitation to tender stipulated that all the prospective bidders should have stamped audited financial statements for the last two years.
The bid also required proof of payment of special procurement oversight committee and administration fees, among other requirements.
Chirenje told the court that on April 19 this year, an evaluation committee awarded four companies eight lots to rehabilitate the streetlights.
Mpofu’s company failed to meet the requirements because its audited statements did not have an audit opinion, which was a prerequisite for bidding.
However, council went on to invite Mpofu’s company to submit a fresh bid and it re-submitted the bid document containing false statements.
Mpofu allegedly misrepresented that his company was compliant with the requirements of the general regulations.
According to court documents, Mpofu submitted a bid security obtained on March 26 which his comany had used in a previous unsuccessful tender.
He allegedly submitted audit documents which they claimed were prepared by three consultancy companies, which, according to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, were unregistered.
Mpofu’s company was allegedly awarded the contract.
The State alleges that Chimombe signed as a witness, which culminated in them receiving a part payment of US$260 000.