THE late Transport and Infrastructural Development minister
Joel Biggie Matiza’s estate is up in flames as it emerged this week that a
business partner is allegedly refusing to honour a US$2 million payment after a
construction deal.
Matiza, who held several ministerial posts, died on January
22, 2021 at St Annes Hospital in Harare after battling COVID-19.
He was declared a national hero and was buried at the
National Heroes Acre in Harare.
He was also an internationally-acclaimed architect, who had
vast construction businesses across the globe.
His wife, Lillian, died two years later.
However, the chief executive officer at Commerce Veritas
(Pvt) Limited, Martin Mutenda, whose company specialises in civil engineering,
yesterday appeared in court accused of defrauding Lillian of US$2 million.
The complainant in the matter is the late couple’s son,
Batsirai (26), who was appointed the executor of his mother’s estate after she
had passed on.
Mutenda (55), from Hyde Park in Harare, was remanded in
custody to Monday for his bail application by Harare regional magistrate Donald
Ndirowei.
The investigating officer, Ngonidzashe Chimuto, who
appeared in court to help the prosecution oppose Mutenda’s bail application,
said the accused had a permanent residence in South Africa.
“The police have been looking for the accused person since
March and we were told that he was in South Africa, where he owns another
house,” Chimuto said.
He said the accused was arrested on April 30 at Robert
Gabriel Mugabe International Airport as he came to Zimbabwe.
“We were told by the police officers who arrested him at
the airport that he had been arrested while coming from South Africa. We only
learned that the accused was in Zimbabwe after investigations were done prior
to his court appearance,” he said.
“He is also likely to tamper with evidence because he is
the secretary of the company, hence being the sole custodian of all the
paperwork and bank accounts.”
Prosecutor Mercy Masamvi told the court that sometime in
June 2022, the accused person entered into a construction business partnership
with Lillian.
In the agreement, the accused person reportedly
misrepresented to Lillian that herself, Jorome Leroy and Taurai Negonde, would
become directors of the company, with the accused being positioned as the
company secretary.
Mutenda allegedly told Lillian that she would be given a
payment of US$2 million at the completion of the construction project.
The State revealed that in exchange for the accused
person’s offer, Lillian would inject
road equipment namely a pneumatic roller, paver, a roller and office furniture
which she took from her company called Studio Arts (Pvt) Limited.
The court heard that Lillian duly supplied the equipment as
part of the deal.
On November 25 last year, Lillian passed on, which led to
his son, Batsirai, to be duly appointed as the executor of his late mother’s
estate.
It is further alleged that in December 2023, Batsirai
approached Mutenda requesting him to transfer the money due to his late mother,
Lillian, to the Biggie Joel Trust, where the complainant and his other
relatives are beneficiaries, but the accused refused.
Investigations revealed that the accused person had
misrepresented the structure of the company and payment of the US$2 million.
Newsday
