Lawyers for businessmen Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu, who are charged with defrauding the Presidential Goat Scheme out of US$7 million, filed an appeal for bail pending trial at the High Court Wednesday.
The two were recently denied bail by Harare magistrate Mrs. Marehwanazvo Gofa on the grounds that the State had demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that they were unfit to be released on bond due to the likelihood of their conviction.
Angry at the ruling of the remand court, the two have used their attorneys, Mr. Tapson Dzvetero and Ashley Mugiya, to assert their right to appeal to the High Court, asking it to step in and reverse the ruling of the lower court on the grounds that the magistrate was misdirected.
Though the prosecution produced evidence to support its allegation that the two were not good candidates for bail as they used forged documents to bid on the goat tender, the two argued that bail is a constitutional right and there were no compelling reasons to deny them their freedom pending trial.
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But in her bail ruling last week, Mrs Gofa said two were supposed to offer a meaningful defence as to why they are denying the charges against them, noting that they did not have a plausible defence.
The magistrate rejected Chimombe’s argument that said all papers submitted for bidding were authentic and that their contract was still valid.
Chimombe, however, failed to tender documentary evidence to prove that their company documents were legitimate.
The court determined that Mpofu’s denial of the allegations, based on his claim that he was attending meetings at the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development in his capacity as the leader of the Economic Empowerment Group.
