HARARE – Tender businessman Wicknell Chivayo was arrested on Thursday on bribery charges.
Chivayo was seized as he left court where he is on trial for fraud and money laundering for failing to deliver on a $200 million tender for a solar power plant in Gwanda, for which he was paid a $5,6 million advance for pre-commencement works which were never performed, according to prosecutors.
Chivayo is accused of paying a $10,000 bribe to the former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) chairman Stanley Nyasha Kazhanje, to stop the state power utility from cancelling the contract with Chivayo’s Intratrek Zimbabwe, which won the tender.
Kazhanje, 48, was released on $100 bail on Wednesday after being charged with criminal abuse of office.
Chivayo is expected in court on Friday on the latest charges.
Prosecutors say after ZPC signed the contract with Intratrek for a 100-megawatt solar plant in 2015, Intratrek had gone on to sign an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Terminal Engineers, for which Kazhanje is a director.
It is alleged Kazhanje failed to declare his interests. ZPC paid Intratrek advance payments of $1,236,154 for the implementation of the project. However, Intratrek did not fulfil its obligations and this resulted in ZPC management suggesting termination of the contract.
The State alleges on January 21, 2016, under unclear circumstances, Kazhanje received $10,000 into his Barclays Bank personal account from Intratrek’s CBZ Bank account.
Kazhanje, in his capacity as the chairperson of ZPC board, presided over a meeting in which it was resolved that the power utility pay for services direct to Intratrek subcontractors instead of terminating the contract.
It is alleged this resulted in ZPC paying a further $4,387,849 as advance payment despite that Intratrek had not fulfilled its obligation.
The State alleges that Kazhanje was influenced by this payment to decide in favour of Intratrek.
