By Freeman Razemba
CMED (Pvt) Ltd board chairman and managing director for Nemchen (Pvt) Ltd Mr Leslie John Denn committed suicide last week in unclear circumstances.
Mr Denn (35) shot himself once in the head and his body was found by his wife at their Borrowdale house in Harare.
National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the death yesterday.
“On May 9, Mrs Denn left for work at around 7.30am and left her husband at home. (Mr) Denn is reported to have told her that he would go to his workplace later on.
“The wife returned at around 5pm and asked the housemaid where (Mr) Denn was. She was told that he was sleeping in the bedroom,” he said.
He said the wife tried to open the door to the bedroom but found it locked from the inside. She later broke a window to the bathroom to gain entry into the bed- room.
Chief Supt Nyathi said the wife found Mr Denn lying dead in a pool of blood with a pistol beside him. It was yesterday still not clear why Mr Denn committed suicide and police say they were still investigating the death.
Mr Denn’s death follows police’s intensification on their manhunt on the two First Oil Company (Private) Limited directors who are wanted on allegations of obstructing the course of justice after they reportedly connived with CMED managing director Davison Mhaka to cook up papers showing how $2,7 million in the botched fuel deal was spent.
Meanwhile, a director with Nutrine Investments on Friday appeared in court for defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) of $150 368 over three and a half years.
Ernest Matarutse (46) was charged with fraud when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe.
He was granted $150 bail.
As part of his bail conditions, he was ordered to report once every Friday at CID Serious Frauds, not to interfere with witnesses and to continue living at home.
Allegations are that during January 2011, Matarutse – acting in connivance with Tapiwa Chidemo – formulated a plan to defraud ZIMRA.
The court heard that during the period extending from January 7 2011 to June 2014 and on different occasions, Chidemo, who was an accountant at ZIMRA, fraudulently transferred money amounting to $150 368,14 from ZIMRA into Matarutse’s Barclays Bank account.
It is the State’s case that Matarutse, who is the signatory in his bank account, withdrew the money and shared it with Chidemo.
The offence came to light when an audit was carried out at ZIMRA and the matter was reported to police leading to Matarutse’s arrest on May 11. The Herald
