Harare, 03 July-(ANA)-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.
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. (ANA)
Sudan/Ethiopia