Former energy minister, Dzikamai Mavhaire has reiterated that the former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) board chairperson, Stanley Kazhanje who concealed interests from Intratrek Zimbabwe owned by Wicknell Chivhayo had no powers to favour Intratrek.
Testifying in court on Monday, the former minister told magistrate Hosea Mujaya that neither Kazhanje nor himself had the powers to offer any tenders as all applications would go through rigorous vetting by the board first, the central intelligence office, cabinet and finally the president.
The former minister told the court that there is a tender board which sits and decides on tender issues and Kazhanje would not influence that.
Mavhaire however said Kazhanje never told him that he had any interests with Intratrek or that his company,Terminal Engineering had done consultancy work for Intratrek.
The trial is still ongoing.
ZPC’s company secretary and legal advisor also told the court that Kazhanje had no powers whatsoever to favour Intratrek.
The State alleges Kazhanje presided over meetings involving Intratrek Zimbabwe, where he was on a payroll as a consultant but did not excuse himself as required by the law.
According to the State, on October 23, 2015 ZPC signed an Engineering Procurement and Construction of a 100 Megawatt Solar Project with Intratrek.
It is alleged Kazhanje was the board chairperson.
Court heard that on or about December 11, 2015 to January 20, 2016, ZPC paid Intratrek $1 263 154 in advance for the implementation of the project.
However, the State alleged that Intratrek did not fulfill its obligation, resulting in the management suggesting termination of the contract.
On January 21, 2016 and under unclear circumstances, Kazhanje allegedly received $10 000 into his personal Barclays Bank account from Intratrek’s CBZ bank account.
It is the state’s case that in his capacity as ZPC’s board chairperson, Kazhanje presided over a meeting where it was resolved that ZPC must pay services direct to Intratrek subcontractors instead of terminating the contract.
This resulted in the in ZPC paying $4 387 849 as advance payment despite the fact that Intratrek had not fulfilled its obligation.
It is the State’s case that the $10 000 deposited into Kazhanje and the subsequent resolution not to terminate Intratrek’s contract gave rise to reasonable suspicion that Kazhanje was influenced by this payment to decide in favour of Intratrek.
By so doing, the state alleged that Kazhanje failed to declare any interests upon his appointment as the ZPC chairperson.