Former NMB boss Mushore acquitted

FORMER NMB Bank deputy managing director James Mushore, who was arrested in Harare in October last year after being on the police wanted list for three years, was yesterday acquitted on all the five counts of flouting Exchange Control Regulations, but was found guilty on one count of breaching immigration laws.

However, he was found guilty of breaching the Immigration Act by illegally crossing into Zambia without declaring his passport and fined US$1 000 or face 20 days’ imprisonment.

Mushore was represented by Advocate Eric Matinenga, who was instructed by Mr Innocent Chagonda of Atherstone and Cook.

Harare regional magistrate Lilian Kudya ruled that the state failed to prove Mushore’s guilt saying the two State witnesses – Simon Ngirande and Learnmore Chatima – were not credible and the court was not convinced with their testimonies.

The same court, however, convicted the former bank boss on the count of illegally crossing into Zambia on overwhelming evidence.

Mushore’s defence was that he was not aware that there was externalization of foreign currency by NMB.

The defence team argued that Mushore, who was head of information technology, was not responsible for the Treasury section, adding that the two responsibilities did not overlap so there was no way he would have known what was going on in the finance department.

On allegations of illegally crossing the borders without proper documentation, Mushore had argued that as he was a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority board member, he had privilege of crossing the borders without following immigration procedures like ordinary travellers. This argument was dismissed by the judge.