(MISA/IFEX) – The Magistrate’s Court in Harare has ruled that all charges against the editor-in-chief of “The Daily News”, Geoff Nyarota, and the former chief executive officer of the newspaper, Wilf Mbanga, be dropped. The magistrate said that there were no reasonable grounds for charging them with having committed any offence. The magistrate also criticised […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The Magistrate’s Court in Harare has ruled that all charges against the editor-in-chief of “The Daily News”, Geoff Nyarota, and the former chief executive officer of the newspaper, Wilf Mbanga, be dropped.
The magistrate said that there were no reasonable grounds for charging them with having committed any offence. The magistrate also criticised the manner in which the police conducted themselves, saying that they had exceeded their duties. Speaking to MISA-Zimbabwe soon after the court proceedings, Mbanga said he knew they would be released. “Now we can get on with our lives,” he said.
The magistrate noted that if the police wished to proceed with the matter and new evidence came up, they would have to proceed by way of summons. The bail conditions that had been set by the court for the two individuals have been removed. Nyarota and Mbanga had been asked to surrender their travel documents, report to the police every Tuesday and stay at the addresses of residences provided to the court. The Z$10,000 bail (approx. US$182 at the official rate) that had been set by the court was also returned to the two individuals.
Background Information
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested Nyarota and Mbanga on 8 November 2001 in connection with a controversy over the status of Motley Investments, a partner shareholding company in the Associated Newspapers Group (ANZ), the publisher of “The Daily News”.
The CID were said to be investigating allegations that Nyarota and Mbanga misrepresented information to the Zimbabwe Investment Centre by claiming that Motley was a registered company when in fact this was not the case.
