A Standard Chartered bank Mutoko branch teller Rudo Chawatama who is alleged to have stolen $5000 from the bank in June 2013, appeared for trial at Magistrate court and was further remanded for continuation of trial. ZimEye.com in an earlier expose exclusively revealed how a top magistrate last year threw a party for the main suspect during the ongoing trial[ READ MORE– Drama as Magistrate Parties With Man Charged US$40,000 Theft Just Before Acquitting Him]

Ironically, the two witness who testified in the court were former teller Clemence Nkalimo and Branch manager Tafara Ben Maunze who are on bail pending appeal after being convicted for the “disappearing” of $40,000 from the bank in December the same year.
 
During trial proceedings it surfaced that teller Effort Chimhamba, who was the chief suspect in the $40000 theft offence but walked scot free in a mysterious circumstance, had his name largely mentioned during the trial proceeding. One of the chief evidence that is believed to be still with the CID investigation is that at the time of the investigation of the $5000 theft, Clemence Chimhamba is said to have deposited $3800 into a girlfriend’s bank account at a time he was earning not more than $350.
 
The then Mutoko magistrates court Edwin Marecha who has since been transfered to Chivi, mysteriously “joined hands” with lawyer Allan Moyo and found Effort Chimhamba not guilty and acquitted.