Utsiwegota freedom bid flops

 

HARARE Businessman Fredrick Utsiwegota who had launched an appealed against his seven-year jail sentence for theft of trust property has been denied bail. Utsiwegota’s freedom bid hit a brick wall after Bindura provincial magistrate Mr Tinashe Ndokera ruled that there are no prospects of success in the appeal.

Ndokera highlighted the sentence was based not on the nature of the offence, but the number of goods stolen and effects to investment. The magistrate noted there was no persuasive offer for restitution, therefore, there is no need to consider it for sentencing.

In his application, Utsiwegota said the sentence induced a sense of shock and another court of appeal might come up with a different ruling. His grounds of appeal are that there was no complainant in the matter as the first State witness Ramason Bupedra who is the complainant in the matter had no authority to represent the company.

Utsiwegota also says evidence presented during the trial failed to establish essential elements of the offence and there was no evidence that he disposed of the property. Utsiwegota is serving 7 years in prison for conning Singaporean investor, Ramason Bupedra in a $US500 000 gold milling business venture.

It was proved that Utsiwegota stripped the mill’s assets after his business partner left for Singapore while threatening him not to return to Zimbabwe due to what he claimed was an inconducive political environment. Utsiwegota sold several assets which include mining stamp mills valued at US$81 000, generators valued US$25 000, vehicles valued US$102 000, motorbikes, water pumps and electric motors worth thousands of dollars.

According to Bupedra, he formed Decade Mining in 2012 together with Utsiwegota and David Barnett Silver. On June 27, 2013, due to differences among the directors, Silver was barred by the High Court from acting as a director.The company went on to acquire several assets that included trucks, mills, generators, compressors and water pumps.

In July that same year, Bupedra left Zimbabwe for Singapore to attend to other business interests, leaving Utsiwegota in charge of their gold mill in Shamva. During Bupedra’s absence, Utsiwegota would send him messages, urging him not to come back, claiming their mining business was facing political interference and that his life would be in danger.

Out of fear, Bupedra stayed away and only returned to the country in February 2018, following a change of government. On his return, Utsiwegota allegedly told him that he had done a share swap deal with Silver and now owned 76%.

Bupedra went to the Registrar of Companies to verify the purported change, but the company file could not be located. Bupedra then went to the company premises and discovered that several assets had been sold. On enquiring, Bupedra was told that a fraudulent company called Utsi Mining Syndicate, purportedly

owned by Utsiwegota’s brother, Emmanuel obtained an order against Decade Mining Company under a High Court matter which he did not know. The Singaporean then went back to the Registrar of Companies to verify the Utsi Mining Syndicate shareholding and found out that the registration number used at the High Court was for a company called Dual Holdings whose directors are Denford Juru and Monalisa Chipatiso.

That is when he discovered that he had been duped by Utsiwegota and his brother Emmanuel using a non-existent company to fraudulently obtain a court order aimed at stripping Decade Mining of its assets.