Rushwaya bail ruling today

HARARE regional magistrate Ngoni Nduna is today expected to make a bail ruling in which Henrietta Rushwaya, Pakistan businessman Ali Muhamad, Stephen Tserayi, Raphios Mufandauya and miner Gift Karanda are facing charges of attempting to smuggle gold.

Lawyers representing Tserayi, Mufandauya and Karanda submitted their written closing submissions on Friday last week after Rushwaya and Muhamad made theirs orally.

Admire Rubaya made submissions on behalf of Tserayi, Joshua Chirambwi represented Mufandauya, while Dumisani Mtombeni appeared for Karanda.

Tserayi in his submissions said that the court was slowly becoming a passage to superior courts when it comes to bail applications.

He said there was a worrying trend of those appearing at the Special Anti-Corruption Courts being treated differently from those appearing in ordinary courts.

Tserayi said the trend cast a misconception that those appearing before special anti-corruption courts facing corruption or politically-related offences were bound to be denied bail.

-The Herald