The High Court has upheld the appeal of former Air Zimbabwe bosses Peter Chikumba and Grace Pfumbedzai who were challenging their conviction for defrauding the airline of $10 million.
Chikumba, the former CEO of Air Zimbabwe, and Pvumbidzai, the company’s former secretary, were convicted in 2015 of criminal abuse of power and each sentenced to seven years in prison.
The Supreme Court then released them on bail pending the determination of their appeal against the conviction and sentence. Former Supreme Court Justice Edith Mochor later dismissed their appeals, saying they were fatally flawed.
Their lawyers unsuccessfully applied for leave to amend the notice of appeal, resulting in the appeals being dismissed. The judge said it was not possible to amend the fatally flawed appeal.
On Monday, during the Civil Court of Appeal, Harare High Court judges, Justices Bisiray Kwenda and Benjamin Chikweru, overturned Chikumba and Pfumbidzai’s convictions.
“Accordingly, after reading the documents tendered for the record and hearing counsel, it is by consent that the appeal is hereby allowed. The conviction is set aside,” the judges ruled.
Pfumbedzai was represented by lawyer Thabani Mpofu while Chikumba’s lawyer was Tapiwanashe Koginga.
Pfumbedzai and Chikumba appealed against the conviction and sentence, arguing that they were wrongly convicted.
In their appellate brief, their lawyers contended that the judge had misdirected herself by not evaluating all of the evidence presented at trial.
The lawyers argued that the judge erred when he concluded that the auditor, Bhudama Chikamhi, was a reliable witness when he benefited financially by testifying against the duo.
The charges against Pfumbidzai and Chikumba arose after former Air Zimbabwe Chairman Mr Ozias Pvot discovered an anomaly relating to amounts paid between April 2009 and April 2013 to a company called Navistar Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited in relation to aviation insurance premiums.
The state accused the duo of using the services of Navistar to provide aviation and insurance coverage without entering into a tender after terminating the services of other existing companies.
Pfumbidzai and Chikumba also inflated aviation insurance premium payments made to Colemont Reinsurance Brokers (Private) Limited and Reinsurance Brokers (Private) Limited, both UK-based companies.
The company issued 15,452.93 euros to Navistar, 10,607,859.22 euros to the two British companies, while it received 5,895,695.49 euros. Chronicle