HARARE Zimbabwean Attorney General (AG) Johannes Tomana only decided to appeal against a High Court ruling clearing MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett of treason apparently after Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa leaned on him to do so, it has emerged.
The news of Tomana allegedly bowing to political pressure to challenge Bennetts against acquittal on charges of possessing weapons of war and plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe came as the MDC politician last Friday called for the AG to be investigated for possible criminal abuse of office.
High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu last Monday acquitted Bennett, saying the state had failed to establish a prima facie case against the politician. Tomana told journalists after Bhunus ruling that he was satisfied by the judgment, appearing to suggest he would not appeal against Bennetts acquittal.
However Tomana apparently later backtracked on Bhunus ruling, instructing a senior prosecutor to file last Wednesday an appeal against the judgment at the Supreme Court.
Meeting
The Johannesburg-based ZimOnline agency quoted a senior law officer in Tomanas office as saying the AG only decided to appeal against Bennetts acquittal after meeting Chinamasa last Tuesday who pressed him to challenge the ruling in order to block the former opposition politician from being sworn in as government deputy agriculture minister.
The U-turn was made on Tuesday after the Cabinet meeting. The AG had met Minister Chinamasa. It seems that is where he got his instructions, said the law officer, whom ZimOnline did not name to protect him from possible reprisals.
Chinamasa was not immediately available for comment on the matter while Tomana dismissed claims he had been influenced to appeal against Bhunus ruling as mere speculation and insisted he alone took the decision to challenge Bennetts acquittal.
I am entitled by the Constitution to make the step my office took. Everything you are talking about is mere speculation. I do not want to listen to it, Tomana said.
Gross abuse
Meanwhile Bennett in papers opposing the states appeal against his acquittal said that Tomanas conduct amounted to gross abuse of the court process, adding that the AG should be investigated.
The MDC politician accused Tomana of resorting to using fabricated evidence in his bid to get him convicted of treason and accused the AG of abdicating his constitutional duty to prosecute without fear or favour.
In so far as I am concerned, this application constitutes a gross abuse of the court process, and demonstrates beyond doubt that the applicant (Tomana) has completely abdicated his duty to be impartial, fair, detached and to serve the interests of justice instead of seeking a conviction even on fabricated and false evidence, said Bennett.
He added: The application must be dismissed with costs and the court is requested to do all things necessary to have applicants conduct investigated.
The Supreme Court is yet to set down the Bennett case for hearing.
The case against Bennett stems from allegations of a plot to topple Mugabe in 2006. The state alleges that Bennett gave money to gun dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann to buy weapons to be used to assassinate Mugabe.
Prosecutors allege that Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was arrested after being found in possession of firearms claims the gun-dealer has denied saying he was tortured into making confessions implicating the MDC politician during interrogation at a military barracks near the eastern border city of Mutare.
In his ruling last week, Bhunu said that there was nothing in Hitschmanns confessions that connected Bennett to the alleged offences.
The handling of Bennetts case, in particular Mugabes refusal to swear in the MDC treasurer as deputy minister until he is cleared of treason, is one of the key issues at the center of a bitter dispute between the veteran leader and Tsvangirai, which is threatening the stability of their fragile coalition government.
Missing passport
Meanwhile Bennetts lead lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa last Friday said she was going to report to police the alleged theft of her clients passport from the office of the Clerk of Court.
Regarding the passport, it is theft and the person who took it for whatever reason is in breach of a court order. I will be going to make a formal police report, she said.
Bennett had surrendered his passport to court as part of stringent bail conditions that the state argued were meant to ensure the MDC politician did not abscond trial. The travel document has not been returned to him even after his acquittal by Bhunu.
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