Controversial land baron Kenneth Raydon Sharpe is in the eye of a storm after he allegedly cooked up his affidavits before the High Court of Zimbabwe to conceal his location.
This is contained in an answering affidavit submitted before the High Court by the Harare North legislator Allan Norman Markham.
Markham approached the High Court of Zimbabwe to stop the ‘illegal’ and ‘fraudulent’ transfer of Stand Number 654 Pomona Township which measures 274 hectares to Sharpe’s Doorex Properties as payment for the construction of Airport Road.
Markham insists that Sharpe’s Augur Investments did not fulfil the terms of the agreement with City of Harare to warrant such huge tracts of state land.
In his answering affidavit, Markham accused Sharpe of forging his affidavit which he purports were done before a Notary Public in Dubai.
According to Markham, the affidavit is fraudulent on the basis that it has a stamp dated 24 March 2021 yet Sharpe’s signature indicates a different date (23 March 2021).
One of the main ways that a notary prevents fraud in written transactions is to require that the document signer personally appear before the notary at the time of the notarization.
“Most shockingly, the affidavit we received at 1330 hours has the stamp of the Notary Public dated the 24th of March 2021. However, Kenneth Raydon Sharpe signature is on the 23rd of March 2021,” says Markham in his answering affidavit.
Markham is convinced that Sharpe whom he says is a fugitive from justice did not appear before a notary as he does not want his location to be known.
“The reason is simple. Kenneth Raydon Sharpe is fugitive from justice. He is not in Dubai but he is hiding somewhere in Seychelles.
“By swearing an affidavit before a Notary Public in Seychelles or whatever country he is residing, he will direct the attention of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who are looking for him to this destination.
“The affidavit is therefore not signed before a Notary Public that is why the Notary Public from Dubai refuses to put his signature,” added Markham.
He also questions the fact that the affidavits signed on the 24th of March 2021 in Dubai reached Zimbabwe to be served both to the High Court and Tendai Biti Law at 10:10am, something he says raises suspicion of fraud.
“The papers were issued in court on the 24th of March 2021. How is it possible that an affidavit that was sworn before a Notary Public in Dubai on the 24th of March 2021 reaches Zimbabwe on the 24th of March 2021 to be served in the High Court of Zimbabwe and to be served at Tendai Biti Law at 10:10am in the morning?” further questions Markham.
Sharpe is facing countless lawsuits over his transactions with both the City of Harare and the Government which according to various litigants’ smacks of corruption and primitive accumulation of urban land to the detriment of citizens of Zimbabwe.