HARARE – A top police detective appeared in court on Thursday accused of receiving two housing stands as a bribe.
Detective Assistant Inspector Thomas Mabgwe, 42, is the nephew of Deputy Commissioner General Stephen Mutamba.
Mabgwe, who was arrested at Mutamba’s house in Harare’s Tynwald neighbourhood, is accused of receiving the two stands worth US$78,000 as a protection token from a man who was facing a criminal probe.
The incident allegedly happened in 2015 when Mabgwe was attached to the Harare Magistrate’s Court as a public prosecutor.
He denies the charges.
Mabgwe appeared before Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna who heard an application by his lawyers for the charges to be quashed.
Through his lawyer Arthur Gurira, Mabgwe challenged his placement on remand arguing that the state failed to link the bribery allegations with his work in the court papers.
“Facts allege the accused acquired two residential stands from Delatfin Civil Engineering Pvt Ltd but there is no nexus or explanation connecting him to abuse of office as a public officer and the offence,” Gurira said.
“First, the charge of bribery and ordinarily the state alleges that he was bribed by Delatfin. When bribed, it will be for a specific reason to show favour or disfavour but we are not told what exactly the accused was bribed for and what investigations were being carried against Delatfin that would warrant his favour at that time.”
He said the agreement of sale documents do not indicate that it was for a certain favour but purely an ordinary transaction.
Gurira accused the state of arresting his client on assumptions.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti said there was reasonable suspicion that an offence was committed.
The magistrate rolled over the matter to this Friday for ruling.
In September 2015 Mabgwe was stationed at Police General Headquarters Police Intelligence and attached to Harare Magistrates Court as a public prosecutor when he allegedly went to Delatfin Civil Engineering Pvt Ltd where he met the director of the company, Felix Munyaradzi.
By then, Delatfin was servicing residential stands at Sandton Park on Hydon Farm in Harare and was involved in clandestine selling of stands and double allocation of the same. As a result, a number of civil suits and criminal matters were popping up.
In a bid to get protection against pending and future criminal cases, Munyaradzi allegedly gave Mabgwe two residential stands, number 1718 and 1719 measuring 1,500 square meters each with a total value of US$78,000.
Mabgwe was then issued with two agreements of sale in respect of the stands and both signed for them on September 16, 2015.
The prosecution says Mabgwe did not pay for the stands which were in fact “a gift from Delatfin director Munyaradzi… to ensure that he is not arrested or prosecuted.”
