Tsvangirai sues Ben Menashe in Canada

Tsvangirai sues Ben Menashe in Canada

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By Constantine Chimakure

MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) president, Morgan Tsvangirai, is suing a former Israeli special assignments agent and his political consultancy firm – Dickens and Madsen – in a Montreal Superior Court, Canada, for a staggering US$3,1 million (Z$17,36 billion) for unacceptable commercial conduct involving dishonesty, deception and fraud.

According to court papers filed by Tsvangirai, MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube and shadow minister for agriculture Renson Gasela, Menashe flagrantly violated a contract to lobby international support for the opposition party and instead cooked up stories of a plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe.

This led to the arrest of Tsvangirai and his colleagues, Ncube and Gasela, on charges of high treason – a charge that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe.

However, Ncube and Gasela were acquitted before the conclusion of the trial while the government insisted that Tsvangirai had a case to answer.

Judgment on Tsvangirai’s treason trial is expected on Friday. Tongues are already wagging over the outcome of the High Court decision, with the big question being what will happen if Tsvangirai is convicted and vice versa.

The Daily Mirror says it has the court papers in its possession. They read in part: “The plaintiffs have denied and continue to deny any allegations of plotting to kill President Mugabe. The plaintiffs state that the audio and video tapes do not establish any such assassination plot on their part, and further state that the whole sequence of events described in this statement of claim was a fraudulent scheme by the defendants to discredit the MDC and destroy the reputations of the individual plaintiffs.

“The plaintiffs state that the defendants undertook the fraudulent scheme described in this pleading at the request of and or solely for the benefit of President Mugabe, in order to prejudice the MDC’s attempt to win the presidential elections on March 9 and 10, 2002.”

Menashe – the government’s star witness in the treason trial against the former firebrand trade unionist Tsvangirai – claimed that his firm was engaged by the opposition to assassinate President Mugabe in December 2001.

“The plaintiffs state that in the course of their dealings with the defendants, the defendants made numerous fraudulent misrepresentations, all with the intention of defrauding the plaintiffs of US$97 600 and damaging their reputations as well as the political objectives of the MDC,” the court papers went on.

“As a result of the fraudulent actions described by the plaintiffs in this statement of claim, the plaintiffs have suffered damage to their reputations, significant emotional and mental distress, for which the plaintiffs claim damages in the amount of US$1 million,” the MDC added. Further, the opposition party is claiming US$15 000 as compensation for expenses incurred such as out-of-pocket allowances, legal fees and airfares.

In their response, Dickens and Madsen stuck to their guns and claimed that all was above board.

The firm maintained that the MDC wanted to overthrow President Mugabe and his government using unorthodox means.

Dickens and Madsen asserted that the MDC did not require lobbying services from their firm, since the party had already retained the services of BSMG, a company located in London, to do the same job.

“The plaintiffs sought to engage the services of defendant to accomplish an illegal act, being the coup d’etat and assassination, and consequently any monies paid to defendant cannot by law be reclaimed,” said Dickens and Madsen.

The MDC was represented by Borden Ladner Gervais and Dickens and Madsen by Zilbert Schwartz. Both lawyers are based in Canada.

Further, Dickens and Madsen were accused of refusing to lobby support for MDC programmes and objectives ahead of the bloody 2002 presidential polls although they had been paid US$97 600 for the job.

Instead of working for the opposition, the MDC asserted, Menashe had done considerable work for the Zimbabwe government and was used to trap the plaintiffs.

Menashe audiotaped and videotaped his meeting with Tsvangirai on November 3, 2001, in London and on December 4 the same year in Montreal.

The tapes were later broadcast on an Australian television network subsequently leading to the arrest of the MDC leader, Ncube and Gasela on treason charges.

The plaintiffs claimed that during their meetings with Menashe, he did not disclose his links to the Zimbabwe government and in particular that he “considered President Mugabe to be a personal friend”.

“The plaintiffs state that they retained the services of the defendants under completely false pretences and misrepresentations made by the defendant, Ben Menashe, on his own behalf .”
Daily Mirror
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