HARARE magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa on Wednesday denied the bail of Registrar General’s Department officials arrested for criminal abuse of office after they allegedly used fraudulent means to process passports for foreign nationals from Cameroon.
In her judgement, magistrate Gofa said the State has a very strong case, including CCTV evidence which implicates the accused persons escorting the Cameroonians through the offices and there is high likelihood that if the accused are granted bail they will flee through the country’s porous borders.
She also ruled that the accused are facing a very serious offence of connivance in addition to accusations that they did not properly conduct their job since they failed to verify the foreigner's documents.
Gofa further ruled that the argument by the defense that the CCTV evidence has no sound is not strong, since what is important is the visuals showing the accused persons escorting the foreigners in the offices hence it is prima facie evidence, which is in favor of the State.
It is in State’s case that on September 17 this year, the RG’s department group facilitated the issuance of passports to the Cameroonians who were in transit to South Africa.
The Cameroonians were arrested at Beitbridge border post on their way to the neighbouring country by Zimbabwean immigration officers after they failed to respond to questions asked in vernacular Shona.
The foreigners implicated the RG’s Office officials.
The matter was deferred to October 16 for routine remand pending finalisation of the docket.
Lancelot Mutsokoti represented the State.