Harare, Zimbabwe | The highly anticipated trial of business partners Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe, which was set to resume today at the High Court, has been postponed until February 20 due to a family bereavement of one of the defense attorneys.
Advocate Tapson Dzvetero, Chimombe’s lawyer, is attending a funeral after a death in his family, leading Justice Pisirayi Kwenda to approve the delay.
Mpofu and Chimombe are facing accusations of misappropriating millions of dollars from the Presidential Goat Pass-On Scheme, a case that has drawn significant attention as one of Zimbabwe’s most high-profile corruption scandals.
The case has experienced numerous delays, with the defense unsuccessfully attempting to halt the trial on the grounds of alleged constitutional violations.
Just last month, their most recent request for bail was rejected by Justice Kwenda, who expressed concerns about the risk of the accused fleeing the country.
The court emphasized that the seriousness of the charges and the potential 20-year prison sentence greatly increased the risk of the defendants attempting to escape.
The charges against Mpofu and Chimombe include allegations of forgery and fraud, involving the creation of fake ZIMRA and NSSA compliance certificates for the company Blackdeck Private Limited.
These fraudulent documents were reportedly submitted as part of a tender bid to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, and Rural Development for the procurement of goats under the scheme.
Further investigations revealed incriminating evidence, showing that the QR code and reference on the NSSA certificate belonged to a different organization, while Blackdeck Private Limited had been deregistered from the NSSA system in January 2016.
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