Chronicle Editor
Tendai Rupapa, Harare Bureau
Zimbabwe National Road Administration director Simon Mudzingwa Taranhike (53) and finance manager Shadreck Matengabadza (44) who were suspended recently by their employer, appeared in court yesterday charged with swindling the parastatal of $300 000.
The pair reportedly transferred the money into a fraudulent company on the pretext they were repaying a loan to the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
It is alleged the money was later transferred into individual accounts, including that of Matengabadza’s wife.
They also fraudulently used documents of a late person to open a company and a bank account, and making the deceased a signatory, the court heard.
Taranhike and Matengabadza were not asked to plead to the charge when they appeared before Ms Nomsa Sabarauta.
They were released on $500 bail each.
The two were represented by Messrs Andrew Muvirimi of Muvirimi law chambers and John Mutonono of Chadyiwa and Associates.
The State alleges that sometime in 2011, Zinara was advanced a 10-year loan facility of $206 million by the DBSA for the construction and rehabilitation of the 823 km highway from Plumtree to Mutare.
The loan was released through Infralink Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary company jointly owned by Zinara and Group Five (Pty) Ltd, formed specifically as a vehicle to manage the fund.
The NMB Bank was nominated by the DBSA to facilitate the loan repayment on a quarterly basis.
All revenue in hard currency that is realised from Zinara’s operations is channelled to the NMB Bank for onwards remittance to DBSA.
However, due to foreign currency challenges in the country, remittances to the NMB Bank are mostly made in bond notes, leaving the bank with the task of sourcing hard currency on behalf of Zinara.
Prosecuting, Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that on May 23, Taranhike and Matengabadza, without authority from their principal and acting in connivance with “directors” of Grayriver Pvt, namely Munyaradzi Paraiwa and ‘Magaisa Sobuzobani’, made a transfer of $300 000 to Grayriver on the pretext that the money was a reimbursement to Grayriver’s South African sister company, Solarwatts, which they alleged had paid $250 000 to the DBSA as part payment of Zinara’s loan.
The following day, Grayriver, through its “directors”, made a bank transfer of $131 546 to certain individuals who have accounts with CBZ Bank, namely Albert Muzambi, Honest Kugotsi, Willo Mackenzie and Chandler Moyo, it is alleged.
It is not clear who these people are and why they were given part of the money.
On the same day, CBZ Bank security department received an anonymous call to the effect that Grayriver was a fraudulent company being used by the accused persons to siphon money from Zinara.
The information was passed on to the supervisory unit of the RBZ which in turn made a report to the police.
Police investigations revealed that Matengabadza’s wife, Chemusaiziva, was given $2 500 from the stolen $300 000.
Further investigations also revealed that Sobuzobani, who was listed as one of the directors of Grayriver and a signatory to the company’s account, which was opened in February this year, died last year.
Records at the Registrar General’s office showed that he died in September last year yet the Grayriver bank account was opened in February this year.
Furthermore, it was revealed that Paraiwa used forged documents to register the company and to open an account with CBZ, the State alleged.
When the police went to the given address said to be the location of the company in Banket, they could not find Grayriver.
The State further alleged that in May this year, the duo illegally sourced more than $2,8 million from the informal market despite the fact that Zinara’s official source of foreign currency was NMB bank and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
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