Zimbabwe -- Treason: Govt withholds info

SAPA-AP via News24 ^ | February 17, 2003

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Harare - The Zimbabwean government has failed to hand over evidence that it paid the key witness in a treason trial who has testified that the opposition leader tried to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, defence attorneys argued on Monday.

Invoices, expense vouchers and other information submitted by Montreal-based consultant Ari Ben Menashe to the government were sought, but never provided, the defense team of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told the Harare High Court.

The financial records might point to collusion by Ben Menashe with the Zimbabwe government to entrap Tsvangirai and two senior opposition colleagues with treason, the lawyers said.

The opposition politicians deny the charges and say Ben Menashe Menashe framed them. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Throughout the trial, now in its second week, lead defence lawyer George Bizos has argued Ben Menashe was already being paid by the Zimbabwe government before he met with Tsvangirai.

Ben Menashe has testified that it was only after his meetings with Tsvangirai that he signed a contract with Zimbabwe's security ministry.

Ben Menashe said on Monday he did not have copies of invoices prepared by his Montreal-based firm.

"This is Zimbabwe government material. They have them. They will do what they wish," he told the court.

'Possibly'

Chief state prosecutor Bharat Patel told Bizos he had asked for the documents for the trial but also had not received them from the government.

Last week Ben Menashe said he received US$200 000 from the government soon after providing a secretly recorded videotape which he said would incriminate Tsvangirai in a murder and coup plot against Mugabe.

He signed a consultancy contract with the government on January 10, 2002, more than a month after the grainy 4 1/2-hour video was made on December 4 and handed over to the government a day later.

Ben Menashe has denied he was paid for a sting operation but said he decided to go along with overtures from Tsvangirai to overthrow Mugabe so he could report it to Zimbabwe authorities.

Ben Menashe on Monday said he "possibly" received another US$415 000 from the government as part of US$1m promised under its contract with him.

He denied failing to report the payments to the US Justice Department as required under rules covering political lobbyists or consultants registered in the United States.

Bizos said US records would show the Montreal firm reported receiving only US$50 000 from Zimbabwe.

Ben Menashe said he could not remember the contents of his firm's report to US authorities or whether it mentioned any US involvement.

He had earlier claimed he was asked to co-ordinate ongoing contacts between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the US government and the Central Intelligence Agency to kill Mugabe.

Lying, evasive

He claimed a CIA agent sat in on the December 4 meeting with Tsvangirai.

Bizos has repeatedly accused Ben Menashe of lying and being evasive in his testimony.

Tsvangirai was charged with treason two weeks before he ran against Mugabe in presidential elections last March.

Mugabe won the election which international observers said was swayed by rigging and political intimidation.

Bizos said Ben Menashe had a long history of international meddling. He said he had spurious involvement in the US presidential election in 1980 and Australia's 1986 elections.

A congressional committee and Australian lawmakers concluded he lied on both occasions to discredit election candidates, Bizos said.

Ben Menashe was acquitted by a US federal jury in 1990 of charges he illegally arranged a US$36m deal to sell US-made military cargo planes to Iran in exchange for the release of four American hostages in the Middle East. - Sapa-AP

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