Africa-Press – Nigeria. NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd chief executive officer Raphael Mushanawani has been granted US$500 bail by Harare magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa, who ruled that the State had failed to present sufficient evidence to justify his continued detention on fraud charges involving over US$625 000.
Mushanawani, who was arrested on Monday by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), appeared in court Wednesday afternoon facing allegations of engaging in irregular procurement processes during the upgrade of NetOne’s SAGE 1000 system.
Prosecutors alleged that Mushanawani unlawfully contracted Lunartech Solutions (Pvt) Ltd to carry out the system upgrade without seeking approval from the NetOne board.
Other accusations include that he signed additional unapproved contractual addenda and separately engaged another company, Diztech (Pvt) Ltd, also without the necessary board clearance.
The State claimed the deals were executed outside the required procurement framework, raising concerns of potential abuse of office and financial misconduct.
However, Gofa ruled that the prosecution had not, at this stage, provided enough evidence to substantiate the claims or warrant denial of bail.
“The State has not presented sufficient evidence,” said Gofa in her ruling, before releasing Mushanawani on stringent bail conditions.
As part of his bail, Mushanawani was ordered to report to ZACC offices every two weeks, surrender his passport, and avoid any contact with witnesses involved in the case.
The matter was remanded to October 22, when the court is expected to decide whether Mushanawani will be formally placed on remand.
The case marks the latest in a series of high-profile investigations by ZACC as it continues its crackdown on alleged corruption among State-owned enterprises.
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