A local business, Aberfoyle Farming, is being prosecuted on charges that it defrauded Mikando Housing Development Trust of land worth US$2 million.
The director of Aberfoyle Farming, Tazviwana Chivaviro, appeared before magistrate Stanford Mambanje charged with fraud. Chivaviro was remanded out of custody on free bail.
Court records show that parties entered into an agreement sometime in 2014, under which Mikando was to develop and service Chivaviro’s 191,71 hectares of land in Lots 51 and 52 of Kintyre Estates, Harare.
To compensate Mikando for its services, the housing development trust was to receive 24 stands.
The complaint undertook land development work, which included drawing up a layout design, topographical and soil surveys, a general plan, and road drawings.
It was the State’s case that the complainant finished the work, and the accused gave Mukando the 24 residential stands; nevertheless, Mukando did not receive the Deed since those stands were part of a Parent Deed 9507/2002 that also included the stands of other complainants.
According to court documents, “The Parent Deed reportedly contains 105 residential stands.”
Chivaviro is accused of taking a loan of US$1,000,000 from Icejay Investments Private Limited sometime in 2017 and using Mikando’s residential stands, located on Lots 51 and 52 of Kintyre Estates in Harare, as surety without the complainant’s knowledge.
“The accused person failed to pay back the loan and Icejay Investment Private Limited approached the Supreme Court for the attachment of the stands and the accused was ordered to transfer the land in the market value of US$1,500,000 to Icejay Investment Private Limited,” read court papers.
The complaint visited the Zvimba Rural District Council in December of last year with the intention of paying for a Certificate of Compliance for the residential stands.
According to the state, Mukando was instructed to submit a Parent Deed for Harare’s Lot 51 and Lot 52 of Kintyre Estates.
“On January 6 this year, the complainant went to the Registrar of Deeds where she discovered that the Deed which includes her residential stands had a caveat, prompting the complainant to report the matter to the police,” further reads court papers.
