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Business Reporter
Three Tobacco Sales Limited Company bosses, who were accused of duping a businessman of $600 000 in a failed horticulture business deal, have been acquitted.
The court upheld TSL directors, Washington Matsaire, its former chief executive officer Richard Musvaire and the finance director Peter Mujaya’s application for discharge on the basis that there was no proper complainant before the court. The court said the transaction was a commercial one between Tobacco Sales Services and Zazu (Private) Limited and yet Yakub Mohammed, who had no authority from the company to act on its behalf or make the complaint, claimed to be the complainant.

Matsaire, Musvaire and Mujaya were relieved when the magistrate ruled that there was no case against them and that the court could not persecute people where there was no proper complainant before the court; it was not for the court to force the accused persons on their defence. The State had not shown that the three accused persons acted improperly or made any misrepresentations and therefore without such evidence, there was no basis for putting them on their defence.

Mr Mohamed conceded when questioned at the end of the State case, if the accused persons had acted personally, the court papers say.

He also accepted that they had actually acted for a company and that they had not done anything personally wrong.

The court also queried the ownership of the land where the flower growing business would have been set up saying the status of the farm was not clear and it was not the duty of the court to perpetuate underhand dealings.

“Apart from Yakub Mohammed, who tried, but failed, to make reference to fraud, none of the other witnesses called by the State even knew the charge or the reason why the accused were in court,” the trio argued in court.

“He has no basis whatsoever for the accused to be put on their defence and with all due respect to the State, it has failed to establish a prima facie case,” they said.

Matsaire, Musvaire and Mujaya were represented by Addington Bexley Chinake of Kantor & Immerman while Mr Michael Reza appeared for the State.