{"id":115261,"date":"2026-02-15T10:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:59:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T10:59:31","slug":"businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges","title":{"rendered":"Businessman acquitted of fraud, theft charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>MUTARE businessman Kumarpal Natwar Shingadia has been acquitted of fraud and theft of trust property charges by the Harare Regional Court.<\/p>\n

Regional magistrate Learnmore Mapiye cleared Shingadia at the close of trial on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Shingadia was arrested last July following allegations by his nephew, Bhavhick Bacool Shingadia, who is not a member of the company, that he unlawfully increased the company\u2019s share capital, altered directorship without a resolution and misappropriated rental income.<\/p>\n

In his defence, Shingadia maintained that the share capital increase was above board and that the rental proceeds belonged to Shingadia Furniture Mart (Private) Limited, not individual shareholders, who would only be entitled to dividends once declared.<\/p>\n

He claimed that his prosecution was both unlawful and malicious.<\/p>\n

The court found no evidence of fraud, noting that a special resolution and directors\u2019 minutes supported the changes.<\/p>\n

Two High Court applications seeking to overturn the resolution had previously failed.<\/p>\n

On the theft allegation, the magistrate ruled that no dividends had been declared and no audit evidence or shareholder testimony was presented to prove misappropriation.<\/p>\n

The prosecution was led by Culven Munyimi, while Shingadia was represented by Passmore Nyakureba, Shamiso Mungofa and Kudzai Tichawangana of Maunga Maanda and Associates Legal Practitioners.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. MUTARE businessman Kumarpal Natwar Shingadia has been acquitted of fraud and theft of trust property charges by the Harare Regional Court. Regional magistrate Learnmore Mapiye cleared Shingadia at the close of trial on Wednesday. Shingadia was arrested last July following allegations by his nephew, Bhavhick Bacool Shingadia, who is not a member […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":115260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-115261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nBusinessman acquitted of fraud, theft charges - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MUTARE businessman Kumarpal Natwar Shingadia has been acquitted of fraud and theft of trust property charges by the Hara ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Businessman acquitted of fraud, theft charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MUTARE businessman Kumarpal Natwar Shingadia has been acquitted of fraud and theft of trust property charges by the Hara ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-15T08:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-15T10:59:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/02\/sm_1771153144.651074.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Businessman acquitted of fraud, theft charges\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-15T08:56:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-15T10:59:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\"},\"wordCount\":219,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/02\/sm_1771153144.651074.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businessman-acquitted-of-fraud-theft-charges\",\"name\":\"Businessman acquitted of fraud, theft charges - 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