Story by Fungai Jachi
THE Member of Parliament for Chiredzi West, Darlington Chiwa, who is facing charges of allegedly embezzling Constituency Development Funds (CDF), has been released on bail set at US$200.
As part of the bail conditions, Chiwa was ordered to surrender the title deeds to his house as surety, as well as his passport, pending trial.
The State had challenged his release on bail, arguing that Chiwa was most likely to interfere with State witnesses.
The court also ordered him not to interact with the witnesses and was remanded to February 19.
The legislator is alleged to have squandered funds meant for community projects on beer, shoes, groceries, and building materials.
The amount involved is equivalent of US$50 000 in ZiG currency.
Allegations against Chiwa are that, as chair of Chiredzi West CDF committee, he manipulated other members of the community who were signatories to the constituency account to rescind their tasks so that he could be the sole signatory.
Further allegations are that when the Parliament of Zimbabwe deposited the CDF money, Chiwa diverted the funds to personal use only, channelling at least ZiG$270 000 to community projects while squandering about ZiG$900 000.
