A Harare lawyer has been remanded in custody after appearing at the Harare Regional Court accused of using a forged title deed to fraudulently subdivide and sell part of a Borrowdale property valued at US$150,000.
David Junior Munashe Donzvambeva, who practises at Jiti Law Chambers, appeared before regional magistrate Jesse Kufa facing fraud charges.
He was remanded in custody pending the continuation of his bail hearing.
The complainant is Bluegen Company Consultancy, represented by its director, Ryan Dokwani.
Prosecutor Lawrence Gangarahwe told the court that Donzvambeva allegedly acted with three accomplices who are still at large — Tapiwa Gona, Danmore Nyamukapa and Tafadzwa Durawiti.
The State alleges that the group produced a fake title deed purporting to show that Grace Communications (Private) Limited owned Stand No. 163 Quinnington Road, Borrowdale.
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The property is allegedly owned by Bluegen Company Consultancy.
Using the forged document, Donzvambeva and his alleged accomplices allegedly applied for the subdivision of the property before selling one of the resulting stands to a buyer identified in court as Dr Chiza.
The State further alleges that the accused used the same fraudulent title deed to institute eviction proceedings against Bluegen in an attempt to remove the company from the property.
The alleged fraud came to light after Bluegen became aware of the eviction proceedings and reported the matter to the police.
Investigations involving the City of Harare and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works allegedly established that the property had previously been State land before being allocated to Bluegen.
Officials from the Department of Deeds, Companies and Intellectual Property reportedly confirmed that no title deed had ever been issued for Stand 163 Quinnington Road.
The State alleges that the complainant suffered prejudice of US$150,000, with nothing recovered.
Donzvambeva remains in custody while his bail hearing continues.
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