NEW TWIST TO MPOFU, CHIMOMBE FRAUD CASE AS FORMER AGRIC PERM SEC GIVES EVIDENCE

The case in which businessmen Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe are accused of defrauding the government of US$7 million in a botched presidential goats scheme Monday took a new twist after former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture John Basera acknowledged that they only partly failed to meet the contractual agreement.

Basera was being cross-examined by Mpofu’s lawyer, Advocate Tapson Dzvetero, when he confirmed that the duo’s company, Blackdeck, had managed to meet their first-year target of a five five-year deal.

Basera told High Court judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda that Blackdeck supplied 3,595 goats against 3,113, which was written in their agreement.

The former permanent secretary also confirmed that the company had unforeseen challenges in mobilising the goats locally.

“We had green, red and buffer zones because of Foot and Mouth Disease. If I remember well, we had made a recommendation of not transporting goats from one province to another province, but to do intra-province distributions because of Foot and Mouth Disease,” he said.

Basera confirmed that when the Agriculture Ministry asked Blackdeck to supply 500 goats for a launch project in Chipinge, the company delivered.

Dzvetero also asked him to confirm that there were also other incidents where the ministry wrote to the company to supply the goats for other launches, and he said this was correct.

The court heard that the ministry was supposed to call the guarantor or go for arbitration in cases of conflicts as outlined in the agreement but the ministry did not do so.

Basera said that when he left the ministry, plans were being made to call the guarantor.

The court also heard that the ministry instead went on to request the supply of more goats under the presidential goat pass on scheme despite the conflict which arose.

The state alleges Blackdeck submitted fraudulent documents to win the US$87 million deal.

It is alleged that the two were given an advance payment of US$7 million, which they failed to account for, and they both deny the charges.

Trial continues Tuesday. *_-NewZimbabwe_*