adminMagistrate Mr Archibald Dingana heard that between December 15 and 23 last year, Mirirai Muzvagwa (29) of Trooney Farm visited Dombo area under Chief Nematombo where he posed as an agent for the Agricultural Marketing Authority contracting farmers for the 2011/12 soya season.
After convincing the farmers that he was an AMA agent, Muzvagwa who identified himself as Milton Moyo of number 1532, High- field, Harare collected US$5 from each of the 79 farmers he had registered.
He claimed that the money was for the transportation of inputs that he would soon deliver from Harare.
Among the inputs he promised to supply the farmers were 400kgs compound D fertilisers, 100kgs seed and an array of herbicides per every hectare contracted.
Muzvagwa also promised the farmers free tillage and harvest- ing after which his company would buy the soya at US$1 600 per tonne.
Muzvagwa is expected back in court tomorrow (today) to answer to charges of deliberately supplying false information to police officers.
He is also expected to appear in court soon facing other fresh charges of defrauding some more farmers from Chundu and Matau areas whom he allegedly registered into the same bogus soya scheme.
Muzvagwa was arrested late last year after some farmers became skeptical about his generous soya scheme and alerted the police.
It was then discovered that he had in fact replicated a form which he had come across in a newspaper advertisement which AMA flighted inviting interested soya farmers to fill in and send back to their Harare offices.
Online Reporter