Posted on 02/14/2003 7:14:28 AM PST by Clive
A CONTRACT kept out of public evidence in the high-profile treason trial of Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai because it was considered a state secret has been freely available in Canada and the United States for over a year.
Information from the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) files shows that Ari Ben-Menashe - star prosecution witness in the case - was hired to be a mouthpiece for President Robert Mugabe's government in January last year.
The Globe & Mail newspaper of Canada this week reported that Ben-Menashe performed various paid public relations jobs for Mugabe, which included spreading negative information about Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai and two other MDC members, secretary-general Welshman Ncube and agriculture secretary Renson Gasela, are charged with plotting to assassinate Mugabe. They face the death penalty if convicted.
Ben-Menashe signed the contract with an official from Mugabe's office on January 10 2002, according to documents filed with the US Department of Justice.
According to FARA, international lobbyists such as Ben- Menashe are required to publicly reveal their clients.
Ben-Menashe was to get US$100 000 upon signing. Although the stated value of the contract was US$225 000, the bill ran up to US$400 000 within a matter of months, according to the FARA filings.
There is nothing that appears to be particularly sensitive about the US-filed memorandum of agreement, nor is there explicit mention of Tsvangirai.
Rather, Ben-Menashe undertook to create "goodwill" for the regime and get rid of "the pariah- state label currently attached to Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe government".
He also vowed to try to get the US to declare that "the March 2002 presidential election held in Zimbabwe was conducted freely and fairly".
In the most recent FARA filings, Ben-Menashe lists some of the paid "political activity" he has undertaken, including press releases that were unflattering of Tsvangirai.
A spokeswoman for Ben-Menashe this week said the terms of the contract had expanded beyond what was originally written, but the matter could not be discussed further because "it definitely jeopardises (Zimbabwe's) national security".
Documents also show that press releases titled "Tsvangirai attempts assassination of Mugabe" and "Tsvangirai attempts suppression of evidence" - allegations circulated during last year's presidential election - are among some of the jobs for which Ben-Menashe has been paid by the Zimbabwe regime.
On Tuesday, State Security minister Nicholas Goche issued a certificate ordering Ben-Menashe not to divulge any details of the contract.
"Any attempt to disclose these (contract) details would impair the security of the state," prosecutor Bharat Patel said.
The defendants' lawyers, however, complained the ban would represent an unconstitutional cover-up.
Justice Paddington Garwe on Wednesday dismissed Goche's certificate but said the evidence would be heard in camera.
Tsvangirai flew to Canada to talk business with Ben-Menashe in December 2001 and the meeting was secretly videotaped inside Montreal consultancy Dickens & Madson.
The videotape, which purportedly shows a coup plot taking shape, has been entered into evidence at the treason trial.
Though Ben-Menashe formally went to work for Zimbabwe a month after making the video, he denies he was paid for making the tape.
Meanwhile, Ben-Menashe yesterday told the court that Welshman Ncube did not appear to know about the coup plot when it was discussed with him.
"The good professor looked surprised when the subject was discussed," said Ben-Menashe.
When asked by the defence lawyer whether it was not strange that a secretary-general of a party did not know such a thing, Ben-Menashe launched into a tirade against the MDC.
"It is possible that the MDC secretary-general did not know. It is typical of terrorist organisations," he said. - Staff Writer/ Globe & Mail.
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