A long abandoned case involving Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s law firm, Honey and Blanckenberg was resuscitated last week Tuesday in the Harare Magistrates Court.Three years ago the firm was accused of ‘externalising’ over a US$1 million in payments from overseas clients but the matter then seemed to have died a natural death.
In a sign that the feud between Biti and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono is far from over, the weekly Zimbabwe Standard newspaper reports that the case has now been raised from the grave. Lazarus Dhlakama, an inspector in the Financial Intelligence Unit of the RBZ made the complaint against Biti’s law firm to the police.
The MDC has been fighting tooth and nail to have Gono removed from the Central Bank accusing him of destroying its integrity through quasi-fiscal activities. The governor himself admitted to raiding private foreign currency accounts claiming this was to keep the government afloat.
In the political battle that ensued Gono fought back by leaking to the media an acrimonious letter he wrote to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. In that letter he accused Biti of harassing him and pursuing a personal vendetta because the RBZ was investigating the ‘externalisation’ allegations.
Meanwhile, Biti’s law firm last week filed an application with the Supreme Court before a trial date could be set. They argued that the search warrants used to raid their offices were not only invalid, but the documents seized were protected under attorney-client privilege. The firm says it cannot defend itself from the charges without breaching this privilege.
Honey and Blanckenberg have also denied the charges saying they only received about US$3000 per month in consultancy fees from a firm registered outside the country. This amount was ‘remitted and banked in Zimbabwe in full compliance with exchange control laws,’ it said.
* SW RadioAfrica
