Kwekwe businessman, Asif Kurawely, has been acquitted of the charges related to the purported sale of stolen fuel.

The director of Seven Rows Investments (Pvt) Limited, trading as Arman Petroleum, which used to operate Puma Service Stations (now Redan) in Kwekwe, Kurawely (48) was facing allegations of having fraudulently acquired 20 000 litres of diesel from a Harare company in 2020.

Allegations are that Kurawely fraudulently acquired the diesel from Mr Onismus Kufazvinei of Phoenix Oil Pvt Limited in Harare, sometime in 2020.

A fraud report was made at ZRP Kwekwe Central Police Station by Ms Christine Matizha alleging that Kufazvinei had stolen the diesel which he had sold to Kurawely.

On October 9 2020, detectives from CID Kwekwe served the warrant of search and seizure on Kurawely and directed him not to dispose the diesel since it was to be used as an exhibit.

The application was heard at Kwekwe Magistrate Court and was subsequently dismissed by then magistrate Ms Florence Nago.

The matter later sucked in Kurawely's lawyer, Liberty Mashanyare, who had written to him advising that he could proceed with selling the diesel since the matter was dismissed by the courts.

Mashanyare was subsequently arrested for allegedly obstructing the course of justice and was later acquitted. In papers dated October 31 2024, Magistrate Tembo dismissed the case citing that the warrant had since expired hence there was no warrant to cancel. The court also noted that Kufazvinei, accused of having stolen the fuel sold to Kurawely, had since been acquitted for lack of evidence.