HARARE A police investigator on Monday told the Harare High Court he was unable to prove the existence of a bank account into which Roy Bennett allegedly deposited money to buy weapons, a serious dent in the states treason case against the senior MDC party official.The state has accused Bennett treasurer in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirais MDC-T party of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. He allegedly deposited money into the Mozambican bank account of firearms-dealer, Peter Michael Hitschmann, to buy weapons to assassinate the veteran leader.
But a senior police officer, James Makone, who led investigations into the alleged treason attempt, told the court he travelled to Mozambique but only managed to obtain the number of Hitschmanns alleged account with Banco International. He did not have documentary proof of the existence of the account.
“I am awaiting their response (to a request for proof of account) which was made (to Mozambique authorities) by the attorney general’s office because there is still insufficient evidence,” Makone said, under cross-examination by defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.
Makones admission is the second major setback for the states case after the policeman last week conceded in court that some of the guns that the state claimed were bought with money supplied by Bennett were actually recovered from the home of an army officer.
Reacting to Makones admission yesterday that the police were yet to get documents proving the existence of Hitschmanns account, Mtetwa accused the state of dragging Bennett to trial before concluding investigations in a matter in which the MDC politician faces a possible death penalty or life imprisonment.
Mtetwa also dismissed as fake emails that the police claim were written by Bennett to Hitschmann and which incriminate the MDC official.
Post published in: Politics