Prosecutors in Zimbabwe said on Monday they have dropped grain-hoarding charges against Roy Bennett, a top aide of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
“We are no longer proceeding with the case because it has been brought to our attention long after the allegations,” Chris Mutangadura, a chief law officer in the Attorney General’s office, said.
“We are going to write a letter to the police advising them to file the docket away and write a letter to his lawyers informing them of our decision,” he said.
Bennett was served with a summons two weeks ago to appear in court on charges of keeping maize at his farm in 2001 without clearance from the government’s grain marketing board.
He was already facing terrorism charges after being accused of funding a plot to topple long-time President Robert Mugabe in 2006.
Bennett, Tsvangirai’s pick for deputy agriculture minister in the power-sharing government he formed last year with Mugabe, has been a major source of conflict in the fragile power-sharing deal between the two.
He was arrested in February 2009 shortly before he was to be sworn in as deputy agriculture minister. He was later freed on bail.
Mugabe has said Bennett must be cleared by the court in the terrorism case before taking up the post.
The high court in Zimbabwe is to decide on May 10 whether to proceed with the case after prosecution witnesses gave their evidence. — Sapa-AFP