HARARE – Former vice president Phelekezela Mphoko has lost his Supreme Court appeal in which he was challenging dismissal of his application for discharge in a case he is accused of abusing his powers during his time in office.
Mphoko landed in hot water after he allegedly unlawfully ordered the release of two Zinara executives who were being held at Avondale Police Station on fraud allegations.
Mphoko was appearing before a Harare magistrate who dismissed his application for discharge after the state closed its case. Aggrieved, he filed an appeal at the High Court and lost before he approached the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on the basis that it lacked merit. The matter has been referred back to the Harare Magistrates’ Court for continuation of trial,” the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement on Thursday.
Mphoko is accused of ordering the release of former Zinara non-executive director Davison Norupiri and acting CEO Moses Juma who had been arrested over corruption allegations and were due to appear in court on the next day.
The vice president, who was at the time the acting president, allegedly arrived at the police station shortly after 6PM on July 14, 2016, and ordered the pair’s release.
The officer-in-charge stood his ground challenging the unlawful instruction before he later complied with Mphoko’s orders under duress and released the two men.
Mphoko drove away with them in his car.
When officials from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission went to Avondale Police Station on the following day intending to take Juma and Norupiri to court, they discovered that police had released them acting on Mphoko’s orders.
Mphoko was arrested after a military coup which ousted former president Robert Mugabe and charged with criminal abuse of office.
