Former Air Zimbabwe Chief operations officer and the late former President Mugabe’s son-in-law Simba Chikore was yesterday summoned back in court facing criminal abuse of office charges.
According to H-Metro, Chikore who is the husband to Bona Mugabe is being charged with criminal abuse of duty as a public officer. The offense was allegedly committed when he was still Air Zimbabwe’s chief operating officer.
He was summoned back in court yesterday to answer allegations of hiring security services from Safeguard Security company in 2017 without following proper tender procedure.
Chikore was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare senior regional magistrate Tranos Utahwashe.
It is the State case that on August 20, 2017, Chikore signed a memorandum of agreement with Safeguard Security Company for the provision of security services without following proper procedure.
Chikore is alleged to have acted in contravention of procurement regulations which stipulate that any project above the US$10 000 threshold must go to a formal tender.
He entered into a contract with 10 security guards valued at US$16 445 per month which was above the US$10 000 threshold for an informal tender.
The State alleges that his conduct was contrary to the terms of the Procurement Act, which stated that any procurement of services above US$10 000 up to US$50 000 required an informal tender procurement procedure.
In addition, the State further alleges that Chikore ignored the advice of the accounting officer and single-handedly engaged the services of Safeguard Security company.
However, the trial date for Chikore has been slated for January 18 next year after Chikore, through his lawyer, Brighton Pabwe of Venturas and Samukange, argued before Harare magistrate Trynos Wutawashe that they were not ready as they were only served with State papers two days before the trial date.
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