Source: High Court judge dragged into fraud case –Newsday Zimbabwe
PROSECUTORS in the fraud case involving prominent gospel singer Ivy Kombo and husband Admire Kasi have filed an application to compel High Court judge Justice Sylvia Chirawu-Mugomba to testify in the matter.
Kombo and Kasi are accused of allegedly acquiring fake certificates to practise law in Zimbabwe after obtaining Bachelor of Law degrees in England.
Prosecutor Anesu Chirenje filed the application before Harare regional magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka when the duo appeared in court yesterday.
In the application, Chirenje said Kombo and Kasi, through their lawyers, consistently referred to a letter which was allegedly authored by the Council for Legal Education chairperson who happens to be Chirawu-Mugomba.
“It is accepted as a matter of fact that prior to commencement of the trial the letter allegedly written by the judge was not among the documents and evidence discovered to the accused persons through counsel by the State,” Chirenje said.
The couple is being represented by Admire Rubaya and Everson Chatambudza.
The prosecutor also averred that the letter was a document assumed to be in the possession of Kombo and Kasi at all times hence the continued reliance on it by their counsel during cross-examination of State witnesses.
Chirenje further submitted that all the witnesses referred to did not include the judge, the supposed author of the letter, leading to the application.
“The State now seeks to call the alleged author, which is in no way a technique by the State to introduce new aspects which the accused persons may not have foreseen or been prepared for before trial,” he said.
However, Rubaya argued that the State could not tender documentary evidence through a witness who was not qualified to do so because she is not a Registrar of the High Court who can suddenly come to court and tender documents which are not original.
He further argued that they did not interview Chirawu-Mugomba when the trial commenced, noting that the investigating officer had prepared the docket and allowed the trial to go on without a statement from the judge.
The matter was deferred to May 8 for ruling on the application.
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