HARARE – Former vice president Phelekezela Mphoko on Wednesday appeared before a Harare court after his criminal abuse of office case was transferred from Bulawayo.

Mphoko appeared before Harare Senior Regional Magistrate, Hosea Mujaya, but complained that it will not be fair for his case to be heard in the capital city when he resides in Bulawayo.

“We have the issues of territorial jurisdiction to have this matter tried in Bulawayo and not here in Harare,” said his lawyer Zibusiso Ncube.

He added: “But most importantly, we don’t have the State papers to prepare for trial, the docket is with the Prosecutor General and he hasn’t made a decision on the territorial jurisdiction, the issue which we intend to agree on.

“In the event that we don’t find each other, we will make a formal application for change of jurisdiction.”

Prosecutor George Manokore successfully applied for a postponement of the case to another day saying the State wants to deliberate on the issue of jurisdiction.

Mphoko lost his position after the military staged a coup in November 2017 and ousted long-time leader Robert Mugabe.

He is accused of ordering the release of then Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) acting chief executive officer Moses Juma and non-executive director Davison Norupiri from police custody following their arrest on allegations of defrauding the parastatal of US$1.3 million.

The prosecution says on May 6, 2016, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) received a fraud and criminal abuse of duty report against the ZINARA officials. Investigations ensued resulting in the arrest of Norupiri and Juma.

The two were charged with criminal abuse of duty and their warned and cautioned statements were recorded on July 12, 2016, at Avondale Police Station.

Prosecutors say before the two were taken to court, Mphoko arrived at the police station at around 6PM and ordered the immediate release of the duo from police custody.

The officer-in-charge complied with Mphoko’s order and released the two men before Mphoko allegedly drove away with them in his car

The prosecution says Mphoko’s actions were inconsistent with his duties as a public officer.