CHARISMATIC Spirit Embassy preacher — Uebert Angel — who has been issued with a warrant of arrest in an alleged fraud case involving a luxury car — will not come back to Zimbabwe, his lawyers have said.
This comes as Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana hinted they could approach the British authorities to have the popular preacher extradited to Zimbabwe to answer charges of fraud involving a Bentley Continental.
Angel, whose real name is Uebert Mudzanire was issued with a warrant of arrest on December 24 following a complaint by a Harare man — Ndabazinengi Shava — who alleges the preacher told him he would harvest three-fold if he “seeded” his car.
This week it emerged that Angel “was not contacted” by police over the matter despite the presence of a court warrant.
“He (Angel) is not coming (back to Zimbabwe) because he was not aware of the case and only read about it in the media and we have not been approached as his lawyers. I am sure the police know the Criminal Procedure Act, they know what to do when they decide to do their work,” Tinashe Tanyanyiwa said.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba had not responded to the enquiries sent to her at the time of going to press.
It could not be established if police had contacted the International Police Organisation (Interpol) for assistance to bring Angel back to Zimbabwe to answer charges of fraud.
But Tomana hinted that the State could launch an extradition process to bring Angel to Zimbabwe. Extradition is a legal process by which a person suspected or convicted of a criminal offence is transferred from one country to another for the purposes of prosecution, or to serve a sentence already imposed. It is regulated by domestic and international law.
“When we have a person who commits an offence and goes away to another country, what we do is an application for extradition on a State-to-State basis. In the case that the person is in the United Kingdom, the application would be considered on a mutual understating between the States, there doesn’t really need to be a written agreement but understanding that favours would be returned,” said Tomana in response to the enquiries on whether there was standing extradition treaty between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
Angel is based in the United Kingdom and would need the cooperation of the British authorities for him to be flown back to Harare to appear in court. But extradition may still be possible even where there is no treaty or agreement between two countries, but this will depend on the law of the requested State, according to international law.
Angel left Zimbabwe in May last year and has not set foot since his departure despite Spirit Embassy officials claiming he would be back.
The colourful preacher held a series of crusades in the neighbouring Zambia last year but flew back to the UK without making a stopover in Zimbabwe where Spirit Embassy was due to hold an important event.
Later he would be reported to have been diagnosed with a brain tumour, a development rumoured to have “forced” his relocation to the UK.
The 36-year-old made an announcement on social trending site — twitter – that he was handing over the church leadership to his wife, Beverly in the wake of the health reports.
But on Tuesday, a Harare magistrate was told Angel “fled” the country after realising that his “fraudulent” acquisition and sale of a $300,000 worth Bentley Continental sedan had been uncovered.
This was revealed during the trial of Anderson Tagara, 35, of Zengeza 1 Chitungwiza who is answering to two counts for being an accessory to Angel after he had committed the fraud.
Prosecutor Editor Mavuto led evidence from Ndabazinenge Shava — the complainant in this matter.
Shava said he engaged Tagara to import the vehicle on his behalf and gave him $300 000 to cover all costs.
He said Angel called him a year after acquiring the said motor vehicle and advised him to “seed” the Bentley after being promised he would get it back three fold after eight months.
“After eight months, I started contacting Angel but he became evasive,” said Shava.
“…there was Tagara’s affidavit which portrayed him as the seller and that is when I realised that Tagara had connived with Angel to deprive me of my vehicle”. Tagara denied the allegations and claimed he acquired the Bentley using his ‘sole and exclusive funds’.
Source: Weekend Post
This comes as Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana hinted they could approach the British authorities to have the popular preacher extradited to Zimbabwe to answer charges of fraud involving a Bentley Continental.
Angel, whose real name is Uebert Mudzanire was issued with a warrant of arrest on December 24 following a complaint by a Harare man — Ndabazinengi Shava — who alleges the preacher told him he would harvest three-fold if he “seeded” his car.
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| Prophet Angel says he is not returning to Zimbabwe in response to the bently fraud |
“He (Angel) is not coming (back to Zimbabwe) because he was not aware of the case and only read about it in the media and we have not been approached as his lawyers. I am sure the police know the Criminal Procedure Act, they know what to do when they decide to do their work,” Tinashe Tanyanyiwa said.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba had not responded to the enquiries sent to her at the time of going to press.
It could not be established if police had contacted the International Police Organisation (Interpol) for assistance to bring Angel back to Zimbabwe to answer charges of fraud.
But Tomana hinted that the State could launch an extradition process to bring Angel to Zimbabwe. Extradition is a legal process by which a person suspected or convicted of a criminal offence is transferred from one country to another for the purposes of prosecution, or to serve a sentence already imposed. It is regulated by domestic and international law.
“When we have a person who commits an offence and goes away to another country, what we do is an application for extradition on a State-to-State basis. In the case that the person is in the United Kingdom, the application would be considered on a mutual understating between the States, there doesn’t really need to be a written agreement but understanding that favours would be returned,” said Tomana in response to the enquiries on whether there was standing extradition treaty between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
Angel is based in the United Kingdom and would need the cooperation of the British authorities for him to be flown back to Harare to appear in court. But extradition may still be possible even where there is no treaty or agreement between two countries, but this will depend on the law of the requested State, according to international law.
Angel left Zimbabwe in May last year and has not set foot since his departure despite Spirit Embassy officials claiming he would be back.
The colourful preacher held a series of crusades in the neighbouring Zambia last year but flew back to the UK without making a stopover in Zimbabwe where Spirit Embassy was due to hold an important event.
Later he would be reported to have been diagnosed with a brain tumour, a development rumoured to have “forced” his relocation to the UK.
The 36-year-old made an announcement on social trending site — twitter – that he was handing over the church leadership to his wife, Beverly in the wake of the health reports.
But on Tuesday, a Harare magistrate was told Angel “fled” the country after realising that his “fraudulent” acquisition and sale of a $300,000 worth Bentley Continental sedan had been uncovered.
This was revealed during the trial of Anderson Tagara, 35, of Zengeza 1 Chitungwiza who is answering to two counts for being an accessory to Angel after he had committed the fraud.
Prosecutor Editor Mavuto led evidence from Ndabazinenge Shava — the complainant in this matter.
Shava said he engaged Tagara to import the vehicle on his behalf and gave him $300 000 to cover all costs.
He said Angel called him a year after acquiring the said motor vehicle and advised him to “seed” the Bentley after being promised he would get it back three fold after eight months.
“After eight months, I started contacting Angel but he became evasive,” said Shava.
“…there was Tagara’s affidavit which portrayed him as the seller and that is when I realised that Tagara had connived with Angel to deprive me of my vehicle”. Tagara denied the allegations and claimed he acquired the Bentley using his ‘sole and exclusive funds’.
Source: Weekend Post
