By 
FORMER Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) Commissioner-General Gershem Pasi has been freed by a Harare magistrate who granted his application for refusal for further remand after the state failed to give him a trial date two years after his arrest.
Pasi, who was facing criminal abuse of office charges, was removed from remand after magistrate Mrs Esthere Chivasa noted that he has been religiously attending court for the past 22 months with the State failing to give him a trial date.
In her ruling, Mrs Chivasa noted that the State was failing to complete investigations saying there was a team which was set to travel to China as part of investigations, but has not done so since his arrest.
Pasi will only return to court by way of summons.
“Twenty-tw0 months is a very long time and the accused has been religiously attending court. Every postponement should have an explanation and I am satisfied with the explanation which was always being given by the State,’’ she said.
Mrs Chivasa said the State’s failure to travel to China for further investigations could not be blamed on the Covid-19 induced lockdown, as the matter was before the court before then.
She said the public would lose confidence in the justice delivery system if the State arrests people and fails to prosecute them within reasonable periods.
The State, led by Mr George Manokore, asked for further postponement of the matter saying there was a team waiting to travel to Hong Kong for further investigations.
His charges arose after he allegedly engaged a third party in the acquisition of an Information Management System (IMS), prejudicing Zimra of close of to $12 million
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