(Last Updated on December 23, 2020 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – Russian national, Tatiana Aleshina and a company linked to her trading as Augur Investments have filed a US$1 million lawsuit against MDC Alliance and it’s Vice President Tendai Biti claiming that they published defamatory comments on their Twitter accounts.
Biti and MDC Alliance are cited as the first and second respondents in the civil claim filed at the High Court in which Aleshina and Augur Investments claim they suffered due to comments by the respondents on their Twitter accounts on 4 December 2020.
Angur Investments and Aleshina who are cited as the first and second plaintiff also demand that the respondents delete the said tweets and that MDC Alliance publishes a retraction in “three widely circulating newspapers in Zimbabwe.”
This follows tweets by Tendai Biti and his party earlier this month which alleged there were fraudulent transactions in the way Augur Investments acquired land in the Airpot Road deal.
“The Harare Airport Road project was a total stink where thousands of hectares of land where illegally and fraudulently transferred to Augur Investments and its shelf companies. That land must be returned to the City and its citizens. They want to detain me overnight, so be it,” said Biti in one of the tweets.
Biti is also facing a legal battle with Aleshina who accused him(Biti) of assaulting her after they had a heated exchange of words in court in which he called Aleshina an “idiot.”
Aleshina claimed that her condition deteriorated as a result of the incident and had to be hospitalised as Borrowdale trauma centre.
The MDC Alliance then condemned Biti’s detention and alleged he was being punished for “unearthing” corrupt activities.
“Biti’s only crime is unearthing a corruption scandal concerning the Harare Airport Road land deal involving the complainant, Russian national Tatiana Aleshina, and businessmen linked to (President) Emmerson Mnangagwa. Biti didn’t assault her,” said MDC Alliance through their Twitter handle.