FORMER Agriculture, Rural Development Authority (Arda) board chairman Basil Nyabadza was yesterday arraigned before Harare magistrate Tilda Mazhande facing allegations of defrauding former Zanu PF lawmaker Blessed Runesu Geza of US$1 362 000.
Mazhande remanded Nyabadza (70) out of custody to January 3 for trial commencement.
According to prosecutor Anesu Chirenje on October 29, 2020, Geza bought a piece of land from Nyabadza measuring 42,3504 hectares for US$1 362 000.
Chirenje said Geza was granted sole authority to subdivide, develop and sell the land.
When the agreement of sale was done, Nyabadza allegedly misrepresented to Geza that the piece of land had title deeds which he would avail in a month’s time but failed to deliver.
Chirenje told the court that while Geza was in process of obtaining subdivision permits for the land from the Department of Physical Planning in Mashonaland West province, he discovered that Nyabadza had sold the same land to Velda Estates.
The court heard that Geza engaged Nyabadza hoping for an amicable solution only to discover that his agreement of sale was cancelled without being informed.
The matter was reported to the police leading Nyabadza being summoned to the courts.
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Geza suffered prejudice of US$1 362 000 and nothing was recovered.
