British property baron and key Zanu PF financier Nicholas van Hoogstraten was on Monday held responsible by the British High Court for the murder of a business rival - despite being cleared in the criminal courts. Mr Justice Lightman ruled that van Hoogstraten, a close friend and financial backer of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, "recruited two highly dangerous thugs" to murder Mohammed Raja in order to halt a civil action Raja was bringing against him.The finding is central to a £6 million civil action being brought against the property tycoon by the dead man's family. Raja, 62, was in the process of suing van Hoogstraten over a business deal at the time of his death. He was stabbed and shot after answering the doorbell at his home in Sutton, south London, on July 2 1999.
His killers, Robert Knapp and David Croke - who were, according to the judgment, van Hoogstraten's henchmen - are serving life for murder. van Hoogstraten, 60, was sentenced to 10 years at the Old Bailey in 2002 for manslaughter, but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. He was not in court or represented during the civil proceedings. He is in Zimbabwe, where he has business interests, having told Mr Justice Lightman's clerk after an earlier hearing that he was leaving the country and would not be back until next year.
Hoogstraten recently bought into Zimbabwe's tourism sector after acquiring key equity in the Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG). The business mogul, reputed to be an ally of President Robert Mugabe, has swooped on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed RTG following an unwillingness by other shareholders to follow their rights. Last month RTG made a renounceable rights' offer to shareholders in a bid to raise $80 billion.
Van Hoogstraten has courted controversy internationally by describing President Mugabe as "100% decent and incorruptible". He is also alleged to have boasted "the only purpose of creating great wealth like mine is to separate oneself from the rif-raff."