HARARE – A former council boss tried to bribe a judge and when she was arrested for that crime, she attempted to bribe the prosecutor who was handling her case, a court heard on Wednesday.
Preiscilla Vengesai, 37, the former chamber secretary for Chitungwiza Municipality, had her trial postponed to August 15 after her lawyer abandoned her.
Vengesai, who once famously approached the courts challenging the constitutionality of the practice of paying lobola, arrived at a judge’s office with an envelope bulging with money to “thank her”, said prosecutor Constance Ngombengombe.
Justice Felistus Chatukuta had presided over a case involving Avondale Holdings (Pvt) Ltd and TM Supermarkets (Pvt) Ltd and ruled in favour of Avondale Holdings.
Vengesai told Chatukuta, who recorded the conversation before reporting the matter to the police, that the undisclosed sum of money was a “token of appreciation” from Avondale Holdings. It was not clarified what her role is in the company.
She was arrested and charged with bribery over the 2014 incident.
Out on bail and awaiting trial, Vengesai heard that Michael Reza would be her prosecutor. It is alleged that she then approached Reza and offered $1,000 for him to decline prosecution, the court heard.
Reza started recording the conversation before alerting police officers who rushed to his office and allegedly caught Vengesai in the act, handing over the cash to him.
Vengesai appeared before Harare regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya but confusion over her lawyer stopped the trial from commencing. The prosecutor said she had been dumped by her lawyer, but she insisted this was not the case.
