High Court judge orders Van Hoogstraten release

By Lance Guma
29 January 2008

High Court judge Samuel Kudya has ordered the release of British property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten who is facing charges of violating foreign exchange regulations and censorship laws for the possession of pornographic material. His lawyer George Chikumbirike told journalists the state had failed to bring the businessman to court within the stipulated 48 hours and because of this they had applied for his immediate release. Van Hoogstraten who has a controversial past both in Britain and Zimbabwe was arrested last week following reports he was charging rent for his properties in foreign currency. Under Zimbabwe’s tough exchange control regulations this is a criminal offence. No details on the pornography charges have been released as yet.

Reports say the British tycoon who has over 200 properties and owns over 600,000 hectares of land in Zimbabwe was caught in possession of 92,880 South African Rand, 37,586 United States dollars, 190 British pounds and 20 billion Zimbabwean dollars. On Monday Van Hoogstraten released a statement saying the charges against him were false and malicious. He went on to express confidence the courts will clear him of any wrongdoing. The matter has however sent tongues wagging over how a businessman with such close links to Robert Mugabe could be the target of such an alleged campaign.

South African based businessman Mutumwa Mawere was quick to point the finger at Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and his campaign to deflect blame for the economic crisis. He says Gono and the Mugabe regime are constantly manufacturing new enemies to blame for things like the cash shortages and high inflation devastating the country. He says, “It beggars belief how businessmen can be criminalized for merely pegging their rent in foreign currency.” Mawere’s believes Van Hoogstraten’s reported close friendship with Mugabe means nothing in the scheme of things as the Zanu PF leader, ‘could never be a friend of business.’

Van Hoogstraten has preferred to stay in Zimbabwe given his image and legal problems in the United Kingdom. He has previously been jailed for allegedly receiving stolen goods, putting a hand grenade in the house of someone who owed him money and the manslaughter of a business rival shot dead by two men he had hired. Although the judge cleared him of the manslaughter charge, he was ordered to pay 6 million pounds in civil damages to the family of the murdered victim. He has since built up a large property portfolio in Zimbabwe.

A notorious womaniser, Van Hoogstraten has five children with 3 different Zimbabwean women and is quoted as saying, “Once you’ve had black, you never go back.” His famed love affair with the country and Mugabe in particular has been attributed to the prevailing lawlessness. Commentators say he finds it easier to make money in an environment were corruption is endemic. He has made a fortune out of renting cheap properties and ruthlessly evicting tenants who fail to pay their rent on time.