by Staff Reporter
Mashonaland Central Provincial Minister of State, Advocate Martin Dinha has been arrested on allegations of criminal abuse of duty as a public officer, the state owned ZBC has reported.
Advocate Dinha appeared before a Bindura magistrate and has been granted US$1000 bail.
Advocate Dinha who is represented by Tapson Dzvetero is alleged to have demanded and received US$60 000 from one white tobacco farmer, Guy Frank Dollar to protect him from being evicted from the farm which was gazetted.
According to state papers, Advocate Dinha, who is also the Chairperson of the Mashonaland Central Provincial Lands Committee allegedly pressured the complainant to pay him US$60 000 to facilitate the recommendation and processing of an offer letter.
It is alleged that Saineti Madzamba handed the money to Tsitsi Nyika who then deposited US$40 000 into a POSB account.
The accused is alleged to have withdrawn the money and deposited it into another account.
Advocate Dinha has been released after paying US$1 000 bail and is required to report every Friday to the police, surrender his travelling documents and to reside at his given address.
Earlier in the day, the Daily News had reported that Advocate Dinha would face prosecution.
Problems have been mounting for the former Bindura mayor, who is cornered by hawks in the province who want him dropped from government.
Advocate Dinha, who recently received a bullet parcel and a threatening message telling him to step down or risk suffering the same fatal fate that befell the late Zanu PF political commissar Elliot Manyika who died in a suspicious car accident in 2008, is seen as an obstacle to the ambitions of the G40 camp and some war veterans in the province who want his wings clipped.
Apart from aligning himself with the First Family, Advocate Dinha, who was previously linked to ousted Vice President Joice Mujuru, is now accused of belonging to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s faction, something that has angered the G40 camp that also goes by the moniker Young Turks.
Well-placed sources say for the past four months, politicians opposed to Advocate Dinha have been compiling “evidence” to nail him on allegations that range from abuse of office to corruption.
Sources close to the investigations also revealed that Dinha’s accounts with two leading banks in the country were raided as the anti-Dinha lobby to nail him with irrefutable evidence gathered momentum.
“Some hardliners presented a dossier to the president seeking the arrest and prosecution of Advocate Dinha but he said there must be irrefutable evidence before such action is taken.”
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