By Shorai Murwira
Pinnacle Property Holdings owned by flamboyant businessman Phillip Chiyangwa has been implicated in the ex- Local Government and Public Works Minister Ignatius Chombo’s fraud and abuse of office case.
Chombo who was a minister in the late Former President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet who was arrested three years ago, is facing several counts of fraud.
He is also facing an abuse of office case in which he is alleged to have parcelled hundreds of residential stands without following the proper procedure when he was then serving as Local Government minister.
Among the allegations, Chombo instructed officers at Ministry of Local Government to sign a Deed of Settlement for Stoneridge Farm for Phillip Chiyangwa’s Pinnacle Holdings without Cabinet approval.
The Stoneridge Farm debacle resulted in at least 1 440 people losing residential stands to Pinnacle Property Holdings after they allegedly defaulted on payment in 2014.
Tenants were expected to pay amounts ranging between US$ 25 to US$150 over a period of 10 years.
Pinnacle Property Holdings then issued a statement on the re-sale of the stands following the evictions.
Some of the evicted people had built houses.
Stoneridge Farm, measuring 586 hectares, has been under contestation by Government which argued that Pinnacle Properties Limited would not cater for low-income earning citizens as it was profit-oriented.
Pinnacle Holdings contested the acquisition of Stoneridge Farm before making a u-turn in court this week, saying negotiations for compensation were going on with Government.
