West Properties hits back at Biti accusing him of ...

West Properties hits back at Biti accusing him of playing to the gallery with falsehoods

Tatiana Aleshina (L) and Tendai Biti (R)

Zim Now Writer

Claims by Harare East Member of Parliament Tendai Biti in connection with Augur Investments dispute with the City of Harare are blatantly false and meant to divert public opinion, West Property have said in a statement issued over the weekend.

“The City of Harare fulfilled its legal obligations to Augur Investments, as mandated by the courts following a contractual dispute between the parties. The dispute arose after several contractual violations related to the city’s failure to fulfil its obligations in a timely and competent manner,” reads the statement.

West Property says Biti is misrepresenting facts that he knows very well with the intention of tarnishing the image of Ken Sharpe.

“These egregious failures are documented in court-accessible public records and are not contested by the City of Harare,” the statement reads in part.

This rebuttal comes following Tendai Biti’s submissions in court last week in which he accused Biti alleged that Tatiana Aleshina, representing West Properties, had not gone through due processes when the company she represented signed contracts with Harare City Council.

During the court proceedings in which Biti made his allegations, the State dismissed his submissions as irrelevant and also said that Biti was just looking for media attention.

“Your Worship the accused person is giving irrelevant evidence for someone’s attention, because we have reporters here so that they can write about this document,” said Deputy Prosecutor General Michael Reza.

Biti is on trial over charges of verbally assaulting Aleshina outside court after they both attended a session in a related matter. A complaint has been lodged against Biti with the Law Society of Zimbabwe over the same matter

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/472/biti-reported-to-lsz-for-threatening-complainant

The statement adds that there were failures on the City of Harare, involving the tendering of unzoned land unfit for the stated purpose of commercial development.

“This unzoned land was irresponsibly given as consideration in a commercial transaction which Augur entered into in good faith,” said West Properties.

The statement further says the City of Harare “sought to prejudice the company by holding it responsible for failures the city had itself occasioned”.

West Properties says that if Biti is just playing to the gallery because he knows the fndings and determinations of the High Court and Supreme Court, as expressed in HC 425/21 and SC 229/22, and does not provide specific objections to those rulings, which upheld West Property’s title to the Pomona property in question.

“This is a straightforward contractual dispute that has been litigated to its natural conclusion, having been settled by the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe. Instead of casting casual aspersions to support his ludicrous claims of plunder by corruption, Mr. Biti should present a coherent explication of his objections to the manner in which the judiciary handled this matter.”

West Properties further implies that it will be taking legal steps to deal with Biti’s allegations without specifying details.

“We have no intention of surrendering to these jungle tactics. Instead, we will be taking action to expose and hold Mr. Biti accountable for his conduct,” reads the statement.