Zimbabwe court clears UK tycoon

Mr van Hoogstraten (R) consistently denied the charges

UK property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been cleared of illegal currency dealing and possession of pornography by a Zimbabwe court.

The case was thrown out this week at the end of the prosecution case after judges said police had broken the rules when they raided his home.

The state-run Zimbabwe Herald paper reported the police had permission to search for money but not pornography.

Mr van Hoogstraten had consistently denied the accusations.

The 64-year-old, who appeared in court using his new surname von Hessen, is said to have good relations with President Robert Mugabe.

He is reported to own about 200 properties in Zimbabwe and was accused of charging his tenants rent in US dollars - which at the time was forbidden under Zimbabwean law.

He was also charged with exchanging currency on the black market.

Police 'bungling'

During their search of his Harare home early last year, the police recovered cash but also pornography and charged him with illegal possession of the material.

"Police bungled the laid-down investigative procedure, hence the obscene pictures were illegally obtained," the court ruled earlier this week, according to the Herald.

"The pictures will therefore be destroyed and the accused person is found not guilty and acquitted."

Mr van Hoogstraten is one of the few white landowners to have been spared in the government's forced land redistribution programme.

In 2002 a British court convicted him of manslaughter and sentenced him to 10 years in jail for ordering the killing of a business associate.

He was cleared on appeal in 2003, although in 2005 a civil court awarded the murdered man's family £6m in damages.