Published by the government of Zimbabwe
21 April 2008
Harare — The State's key witness in the trial of former NMB Bank deputy managing director James Mushore on allegations of violating the exchange control and immigration laws has left for the United Kingdom, a Harare regional court heard on Thursday.
Mr Learnmore Chatima, who was a senior manager in the treasury department at the bank when the offence was allegedly committed, reportedly left the country on March 20 well after being served with summons to testify in the case. Testifying in court, his wife Mrs Nancy Chatima said she was the one who received the subpoena on behalf of her husband and handed it over to him before his departure.
She told the court that she was not aware of her husband's reason for leaving for the UK. "I do not know his purpose of going to the UK neither do I know his return date. He just said he was going to the UK," said Mrs Chatima. Prosecutor Mr Obi Mabahwana unsuccessfully applied for postponement of the matter and for Mr Chatima to be issued with a warrant of arrest, arguing that he was in wilful default. Opposing the application, Advocate Eric Matinenga, who was being instructed by Mr Innocent Chagonda of Atherstone and Cook, said Mr Chatima had a pending fraud case involving the bank and there was no guarantee of having him back in the country for trial. "Postponing the matter is like asking police to look for a dark cat in a dark room. Your worship, it cannot be found. "This is a clear situation where the witness in question has decided not to have anything to do with this case and is currently facing fraud charges in which he is accused of swindling the bank of substantial amounts of foreign currency.
"Maybe he saw that the net was closing in on him and decided to leave the country," said Adv Matinenga. Regional magistrate Mrs Lilian Kudya threw away the State's application for postponement of the matter to allow the police to try and locate Mr Chatima through the Interpol network.
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