Harare regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje yesterday upheld the State's application to tender a deed of settlement that was made between former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gedion Gono's company and Clark Clever Makoni and Beverly Aisha Ndonda Makoni.
The couple are accused of fraudulently transferring Dr Gono's (property) into their own names while it was under their management.
The development comes after the defense counsel of the accused Mr Admire Rubaya had vehemently opposed the application citing several reasons.
However, Mr Mambanje ruled that the document was relevant to the matter hence the trial will continue on October 14.
The couple also allegedly prejudiced the company Galwex Investments ZWL 137 736 500.
Prosecutor Ms Heather Muwokoto recently led the first witness George Mashonganyika, Special Projects Executive at Galwex Investments which is owned by Dr Gono.
He testified that the couple was appointed to manage Valley Lodge, a property owned by Galwex, but corruptly changed the directorship and made unauthorised withdrawals from the company's bank account in 2017.
The State alleges that on October 30, 2009, Costick Investments (Pvt) Ltd sold all its shares in Lizack and Valley Lodge to Galwex Investments (Pvt) Ltd and sometime in 2017, Mashonganyika assigned Ark Properties, a company by Makoni and his wife to manage Valley Lodges (Pvt) Ltd, as the Estate Agents.
In August 2017, Makoni reportedly hatched a plan to defraud the complainant by fraudulently changing the directorship of Valley Lodge (Private) Ltd.
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Mashonganyika stated that during a spot check in October 2023, it was discovered that the accused persons had fraudulently changed the directorship of Valley Lodge without Galwex's knowledge or authority and made themselves signatories.
Moreover, the pair, who were only supposed to receive a commission, were now drawing salaries from the coffers of the Valley Lodge.
The court heard that Clark produced a fake CR14 document claiming ownership and directorship of Valley Lodge, but an investigation revealed that the true directors were Ayoob Omar and Mohamed Hussein Omar.
Mashonganyika said it was not possible at the time for the directorship to have been transferred to the accused because there were some clauses on the agreement sale of the property which were not yet fulfilled by Galtex.
It was also revealed that Clark Makoni made several unauthorised withdrawals from Valley Lodge's bank account, resulting in a loss of ZWL137 736 500 from January 2022 to September 2023.
Mashonanyika also testified that the duo at some point tried to negotiate with Galtex to restore its directorship to the rightful owners and to compensate them with US$50 000 through a deed of settlement that was signed for.
