HARARE – Four ZIFA bosses accused of shifting money from a company account to an individual account in a bid to evade creditors were acquitted of obstructing the course of justice on Tuesday.
Felton Kamambo, Phillimon Machana, Farai Jere and Bryton Malandule had applied for their acquittal at the close of the prosecution case, and their application was granted by Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje.
The four were accused of moving US$740,000 from ZIFA’s Ecobank account into an account belonging to Conduit Investments, a company which is owned by Machana, sometime in 2019.
Kamambo is the ZIFA president, Machana is the board member in charge of finance, Malandule is in charge of competitions and development while Jere sits on the board by virtue of his position as PSL chairman.
In 2018, Daisy Guest House (Pvt) Limited had obtained a garnishee order against ZIFA for US$161,172, but magistrate Mambanje found that it specifically mentioned ZIFA’s account held with Steward Bank and not Ecobank. The money transferred to Machana’s account was therefore not judicial funds, he ruled.
“It is strange why the Sheriff rushed to the Ecobank account when the court order says Steward Bank,” Mambanje said. “This was suspicious, as the Sheriff does not embark on such, on his own.
“From the agreed facts, as the State alleges the offence was committed, there was no legal process. Garnishee orders are granted in specific terms and no such order (was granted) against Ecobank.
“At that time, Ecobank account was not under any attachment and there was nothing which could stop the transfer. The legal process commenced way long after the day of the alleged offence was committed.”
