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Fungai Lupande Court Reporter
Former Harare MDC-T councillor Friday Mleya has appeared in court on allegations of duping Blinkford Engineering company of $76 000 in a botched stand deal.

Mleya (39), of number 19197-59 Hurtsview Road, Ridgeview, Belvedere, Harare, appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Milton Serima on Wednesday facing theft of trust property charges and was remanded to December 30 on $300 bail.

As part of his bail conditions, Mr Serima ordered Mleya to surrender his passport, reside at the given address and not to interfere with witnesses pending finalisation of the matter.

The complainant in the matter is Blinkford Engineering, represented by its director Mr Peter Chikamhi.

Prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa alleged that sometime in 2012, Blinkford Engineering applied for land from the City of Harare.

Mleya, who was a councillor at that time, started assisting the company and eventually they were allocated stand number 19797 Salisbury township lands, Braeside, Harare.

It is alleged that the stand was measuring 14 000 square metres and Mleya purported to be the director of the company, Blinkford Engineering, during transactions.

The court heard that in May this year, Mleya was given a mandate to sell the lease on behalf of Blinkford Engineering.

Mleya successfully sold the lease to Pink Stallion (Pvt) Ltd for $300 000.

It is alleged that after signing the agreement, Mleya received $100 000 through his Ecobank account number 0023147603750601.

The court heard that after receiving the money, Mleya paid $17 000 to City of Harare, $5 000 to the estate agent and $2 000 to a lawyer.

Instead of surrendering $76 000 to Blinkford Engineering, Mleya converted the money to his personal use.

The company made a follow-up and Mleya failed to account for the missing $76 000.

The matter was reported to the police leading to the arrest of Mleya.