Rushwaya acquitted of bribery in a US$330k gold smuggling case
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) boss Henrietta Rushwaya has been acquitted in the case she was accused of offering US$5,000 to a Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) in a bid to smuggle 6kg of gold worth more than US$330,000.
Magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Thursday cleared her citing that the State’s case was too weak.
“The State witness did not support that the accused avoided the ordinary route,” Mapiye said.
“It is also common cause that Owen Sibanda, the key witness, said that he was not offered any money but was going to be offered US$5,000.
“Sibanda said that he took the issue of the bribe as a joke which the court was shocked about because the issue of the bribery is not a joke.
“The State witness told the court that the accused was arrested for travelling with gold without proper documents but the evidence of the State witness, especially the first one, was not convincing.
“The accused might have committed the offence but the State failed to prove beyond belief that she could have committed the offence.”
Rushwaya was accused of attempting to bribe a CAAZ official Owen Sibanda in order to allow her illegally pass through the Robert Gabriel Mugabe international airport with 6kg gold in her handbag.
But during trial, Rushwaya testified denying the allegations saying she had picked the wrong bag. She accused the witnesses of lying in a bid to tarnish her name.
“My position is a highly contested one and, when the incident happened, we were heading towards an election so maybe Sibanda was and still is under the influence of external forces,” she said.
“Maybe he is being made to give statements to appease those who are controlling him in an effort to jeopardise my chances of remaining president or he is being malicious.”
